Dawn
by StitchedinMack
Summary: The story surrounds the Zombie Apocalypse, known as Left 4 Dead, and mostly between a budding romance between two survivors, their struggles against all odds for life and relying on the strength of their bonds. Zoey x Francis...M for future purposes
1. Good Morning

**Anyways, I like Left 4 Dead, and I enjoyed playing it and I can't wait for the second one. So I'm dedicating an entire series on the game with all four campaigns as a plot line. I always liked Francis, so I paired him with Zoey...Louis is pretty cool, Bill is great. This is a chapter not entirely based on the accuracy of the campaigns, though they have the same goal, I don't want to copywrite left and right and be a total jackass about it. So I developed my own theories and I rearanged some back stories and morphed some things together to keep the originality. Characters and games belong to Valve (I LOVE YOU GUYS)**

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:.:.:Chapter 1:.:.:

..:Good Morning:..

...Beep...

...Beep...

...Beep...

...Beep...

...*Ring*...Beep...*Ring*...Beep...*Ring*...Beep...*Ring*...

Zoey was rolling on her bed within seconds of hearing the alarm clock responding with annoyance. "Ugh!" she yelled, and then she balled her fist into her blanket and pulled it up over her body in frustration uncovering her legs. "It's fucking cold in here...Laura!" She looked around the room and then diverted her attention to her open door...the kitchen light was still on and yet there was no response "Get the phone!" The phone kept ringing. Zoey turned to her alarm clock and pulled it until the cord ripped out of the socket. She threw is weakly towards the carpet where it rolled under her yesterdays clothing. She turned around and struggled with her blanket, kicking it upwards to set it properly over body and then wrapping her feet over the edges of the blanket to make a tight cocoon around her legs and body then suddenly the phone stopped. She bunched most of the blanket around her face. For hours it had been silent, when she awoke from what seemed like a half-awake dream she looked out her door again, it was the damn kitchen light. Zoey sat up, slowly and rubbed her eyes, too drowsy to be frustrated. She threw her blanket over her body and onto the floor. She put a hand on her hip and fixed her bangs while looking into her armoire mirror. She pulled down her tank top past her belly and walked out the door. "Laura..." She spoke; she looked around for her and forgot about the time. She cursed under her breath and ran to the microwave to look at the time. She smiled weakly to herself when she found out that she had already missed her exam and did bother to think about it any longer because she had a large box with old horror movies just dying (pun unintended) to be watched. She picked up a VHS tape and held it in her small hand, she yawned walking to the very small dorm living room and set it on top of the coffee table. She plopped herself onto the couch in a prim position before her back suddenly gave out and she began to slouch. She looked around the living room and grabbed her bath robe from the corner of the living room, and with one fell swoop she flung it around her body, almost like Dracula, hugged the fabric to her body but not around her feet and neck. She walked to the small kitchen and started the five-cup coffee maker (you could imagine it small and adorable) since she was the only one who drank coffee.

The smell of morning coffee made her convinced it was going to be a glorious day. She stretched out her arms and wrapped them around at once beginning to shiver. Her teeth clattered and she slowly walked towards the thermostat to turn up the heat when the phone ran again. She walked over to pick it up, when her expression suddenly turned grim like her hand was caught in the cookie jar. "Dad?"

"Good morning Zoey...*cough." He said weakly before going into a spasm of rough dry coughs.

"How's that cold?" She tried to avoid the reason why her father called.

"Never mind about me how was your exam this morning?" he asked sternly.

"I uh, I did fine..." She rubbed her neck,

"You didn't go did you?" His breath wavered before he spoke.

"What answer would best suit your expectations?" She scratched her nose and grabbed the coffee mug and poured it into the cup.

"You better have fucking done that exam this morning or I'm officially cutting you off!" He tried his best to seem threatening; he was at the end of his leash.

"Umm- Zoey was disrupted,

"ZOEEY!" Her father sounded hoarse, "That's it, I'm tired of your bullshit, decide here and now whether or not that you want to stay or drop out! ...Now!" He screamed into the phone causing her to pull the phone away from her ear. He went into a coughing fit, her eyebrows perked up when she heard him hacking into the sink. The phone cut off after sounding like it hit an object. She hung her phone up, worried that her father might be too sick to take care of himself. She bit her lip and grabbed for the phone again, she dialled his number and held her breath. After six rings she heard the phone being answered,

"Hello?" a small girl's voice answered,

"How's Dad?" Zoey asked, with a hint of panic in her voice.

"Hey Zoe!" The little girl excitedly responded,

"Hey Nance...How's Dad?" She listened carefully to the noises in the background,

"Dad is fine; he's just sitting at the table..." Nancy answered; she spoke close to the phone,

"Be honest babe." Zoey whispered into the phone, pouring a few teaspoons into her coffee cup.

"He's very mad at you." Nancy paused, "And very sick right now, when I was watching Ruby Gloom he was coming back from the mail office and he started to, you know, cough everywhere, it was gross, but it looked like he was vomiting yellowy greenish stuff into the sink." Nancy breathed into the phone.

"Can you put him on the phone Nance?" Zoey sipped her coffee and walked towards the couch.

"Yeah sure, but he keeps holding onto his neck...Daddy!" Zoey listened closely when she heard Nancy in the background beckoning for him. "Daddy?" Zoey sat onto the couch when she heard Nancy breathing into the phone again, "Can you call back later Zoe daddy doesn't want to talk to you, no offense."

"Well alright babe, tell dad I'm coming home for a visit. See you later, blow me a kiss." Zoey listened intently to hear Nancy smack a big kiss on her palm and blow loudly into the phone.

"See you later!" Nancy hung the phone quickly before Zoey had a time to laugh at the quirkiness and adorable attributes her younger sister possessed. She hung the phone and set it on the coffee table. Immediately she began to chew on her thumb nail, staring into space. Her eyes were working yet she could not see anything in front of her, her thoughts occupied her mind. A day ago she phoned her father after his trip to the lake; she managed to ask him how much fish he caught after their heated argument. She thought over and over, she had no interest in college, her hobby to horror movies was as addictive as video games, yet her major conflict, was her inability to try and give up. She had no motives in improving her future, and she felt down because she wasn't willing to live, instead, she lives in her own world, where she does nothing and do nothing for someone else...even if it made them happy. She mentally beat herself up over it, and knowing she would have to go another year, and another year adds up to more debts for her father, she began to feel discouraged. She knew her father wouldn't care about that opinion, but either way, it was her fault. She stood up from the couch, grabbing her coffee and walking towards the sink. She moved the drapes away from the window and she peered outside. The morning was gloomy, a pallid sky...and slowly moving bodies across the grass..._Why are they walking like that?_ She asked in her mind, she frowned and watched closely and decided bluntly, _must be the improv class again..._Zoey watched the people for a moment, _they doing it pretty well, you can really tell they're zombies...wow..._She closed the drapes, poured her coffee in the sink and walked to the bathroom.

After the shower she draped herself in a large towel and walked out towards the living room. It was eleven 'o' clock and her roommate hadn't shown up yet to gloat about her marks. She walked back to her room, slipping on a black pair of jeans, a white muscle shirt and she zipped up a red sweater that had a tiny logo of her college name printed on the right above her bust. She blow dried her hair to an extent that left her ponytail wet so she could slick back her hair. She walked into the living room with a pair of black laced converse shoes and sat on the couch to tie them up. She rested her hands on her knees for a moment, thinking of what to bring. She thought back to the last time she went grocery shopping; she had bought a box of chocolate and had also barbequed a shwack (a lot) load of chicken wings that she decided not to eat the night before. She sat up and walked to the refrigerator with a black bag in hand. She grabbed the box of wings and the box of chocolates and stuffed them into the bag. She looked down towards the bottles of water and pop her roommate kept from her. _She's not here_...Zoey smiled and grabbed a few bottles of water, sticking them into the bag. She grabbed a bottle of coke cola for herself and zipped the bag. She set the bag onto the table and walked to her room to get her cell phone. She stuck it into her pocket, grabbed the bag and out the door she left leaving it unlocked.

She looked at the clock as she was walking down the hallway, her room keys clinging as she walked. It was an hour drive to Riverside; she slung the pack over her shoulder and walked towards the elevator. She noticed there wasn't a student in sight; maybe they're still in exams. She pushed the button and waited for the elevator, the number above the elevator lit up until it reached the top floor, she sighed in frustration and angrily pushed the next elevators button, but the elevator didn't budge. The light above it was working, yet she couldn't hear the wires pulling the box up. She cursed under her breath and walked around the corner to look for the stairs. When she opened the door she found a girl walking down the steps lazily.

"Oh thank god, I thought I was the only one left alive...can you tell me why it's a ghost town?" Zoey smiled, she happily headed down the stairs. She paused half way, noticing the woman hadn't turned around; she looked at her pallid arms and red fingers. "Are you alright?" She said louder than before. The woman stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. Zoey's entire face turned pale as she slowly walked back up the stairs, "You don't look so good..." She whispered, the woman who turned around wore an expression that was twisted into a snarl, her mouth had foam in the corners and it was spewing vomit mixed with blood. The bags under her eyes were black; slowly blending into the rest of her pallid skin that seemed ripped and scratched. Her pupils were a milky white, and when the orbs focused on Zoey, the woman became furious and aggressive. The woman screamed and her teeth were extremely discoloured, Zoey froze in fright, but when the woman made a move by stepping on one stair Zoey moved away towards the door. When Zoey looked behind her, the woman had engaged in a full sprint, arms flailing wildly and legs pumping even in heels, Zoey began to sprint as hard as she could. She ran towards her room gripping onto the door knob so she wouldn't slip, breathing hard and on the verge of screaming in panic, she opened the door and slammed it. She grabbed her chest, clenching onto her sweater so that she could take a few moments to get her heart to stop beating fast because it was hurting her. She could hear the woman on the other side and her heartbeat throbbing in her ears while feeling the pulse throughout her body. _What the fuck was that?_ She panicked, still holding onto the door knob. She flipped the lock and suddenly she heard loud bangs on the door. Zoey pressed her body against the door when the loud thrashing broke through the door, the woman on the other side began grabbing at Zoey's neck. Zoey screamed, along with other alarming screeches further down the halls, she grabbed the woman's hands and pried them off her sweater. She scrambled to her bedroom, before she ran into the hallway, she looked back to see a group of other people trying to tear their way into the room.

Zoey shut her bedroom door behind her and ran to the corner of her room holding her legs together. She was breathing hard and holding onto herself...and she listened. The mob broke through the door partly and she could hear the steps running down the hallway towards her bedroom and Zoey's heart stopped and a moment pause in her life. Then suddenly the mod was tearing through her bedroom door. She screamed and covered her ears, with wide eyes she focused on the ravaging zombies as they tore their way in, thrashing their arms, yet the pain did not faze them. She looked around her room and looked at the metal bat in her closet. She used to play softball with her father, she quit because of her lack of interest, but the bat held sentimental value of the days she gave a shit. She crawled to the closet and grabbed the bat, gripping it, she stood up walking slowly towards the door, where the woman was sticking out her head screaming and spitting at her. Zoey took a step back, swung the bat around before hitting the woman, knocking off her head. Babe would be proud at the strength and flexibility, and skill of the swing. The body fell to the floor with a loud thump, and she looked up at the mod, she took a few more steps back as the mod tore its way through. With the pack of her back, bat in her hands, she swung it over and over until her muscles in her tiny arms burned and she could not carry the bat any longer. She opened her eyes to notice she knocked down most of the people, while a few were getting up. She did not wait to see what they would do, so she ran out her bedroom door, and jumped through the front door, leaving behind her dorm room. She tried the elevator once more and the doors opened. She ran into the empty box and immediately closed the doors before the people had seen her escape. She mentally took note that they had to tear through the rest of the front door to reach her since they were tumbling over each other.

She exhaled painfully as she rubbed her neck, there was a slight bruise. She held the bat to her side and she looked at the numbers at the top of the elevator, and as they counted down she slowly began to feel demoralized. She rubbed the sweat off her forehead, swallowed and took in deep five breaths. She began to shake uncontrollably, she thought back to all the horror movies she watched, and without a waver in her train of thought, immediately diagnosed the problem, as a zombie invasion. It was surreal, and if she made it out alive, it would still be surreal. The elevator reached the main floor and she gripped the bat harder, her knuckles becoming white and she gritted her teeth.

The doors opened, and with wide eyes, Zoey was scanning the room, jumpy to every noise. The only problem she noticed in her diagnosis was that the zombies could run at full speed, just to kill her. Luckily, no zombie was in sight and she made a mad dash for the side doors out towards the parking lot. She forcefully pushed the doors opened and it had alarmed a few zombies in the parking lot. She had seen them, but they reacted slowly before they could figure out she was a target, it stalled them enough so Zoey could reach for her car keys and she accidentally hit an SUV with her metal bat that started the car alarm. "Shit....Shit...SHIIIIT!!!" She ran towards her small red car, "FUUUUUCK!!!!" either way, making loud noises didn't matter, so she cursed as loud as she could. She opened the car door when a zombie jumped onto her hood and a woman zombie slammed into the passenger window nearly breaking it. The zombies were screaming as Zoey felt for the key ignition, she whipped her head around to see zombies beginning to pile on her car, and one had successfully broken her back window. She yelped in fear and started the car, pulling on the stick and setting it to reverse, she put full force on the pedal and the zombies slid off like butter. She stopped the car and shifted to drive and made a swerve out of the parking lot, fish tailing to loosen the zombie hanging onto her back window. She saw a brick wall surrounding the parking lot and scraped the side of her car on the wall, like scraping off gum off a shoe onto a corner the zombie flew off with a few limbs missing. "ASSHOLE!!!" She screamed before making another swerve out of the vicinity of the campus parking lot.

She drove out of the perimeters of the campus, letting a small amount of pressure off the pedal every five minutes. She also took another mental note, that before she looked in her rear view mirror as she was leaving, that zombies were following her in sprint.

When she got down to the highway, she was more than happy to speed again. It was already noon, and the sky began to form an ominous shroud of clouds above the campus and over Riverside. It began to rain, she could hear the droplets pelting the top of her car and drops forming on her windshield showering and washing her view of the road ahead of her. She turned on her wipers, apparently a zombie had ripped away the passenger wiper and the wiper in front of her had an obstructed path, so as it wiped it would screech and do a shabby job at wiping away the water. Zoey looked back and grabbed her pack she squished, and threw it in the backseat. _I need to reach a phone...and fast_. She was practicing breathing in and out, pacing herself and sorting out her thoughts when she saw a sign that read she was 55 miles away from Riverside. By the time she reached 40 miles the rain had stopped and she shut off her wiper. Zoey could feel her stomach growl in hunger and she reached back to find the pack and zipped it open. She didn't care for what she grabbed and she grabbed the chocolates and blindly put them in her mouth. 32 miles to go with a sign confirming her progress to Riverside, she was beginning to get nervous, and it was unbearable that she couldn't reach her father or her sister in time. She had another feeling, a raw feeling that she tried to deny, that it would be possible that there are zombies in Riverside, so she shuffled it far behind her mind, she needed to find a phone first. 10 miles to go and she felt butterflies in her stomach, not the nice but the kind of ones that want to make you throw up in fear want to dig a hole so she could hide in it and wait to die. She noticed there weren't much cars going down the lane she was driving in, but she noticed there was a small traffic jam ahead before the tunnel that was a few miles ahead. The sky was becoming darker and she felt an unmistakable feeling again, there were cars driving past in the opposite lane, all seemed to speed in panic and she averted her attention quickly. She saw an opportunity when there was bar, with a large neon sign saying it was open. She drove slowly into the small parking lot and removed her keys, she opened the car door nervously knowing she hadn't ever been in a bar before, she zipped up her jacket to her neck, stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets and nimbly walked past motorcycles to the front door. When she opened the door, a strong smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke washed over her like a tidal wave, she looked around through squinting watering eyes to a gang of bikers playing pool, women serving mugs and a few loners sitting at the stools in front of the bar, wallowing. She also noticed that there were a few arcade games being played by drunken men, and there was a corner where there was a woman, casually giving an attractive man a lap dance. Zoey also noticed, that she was standing at the door way for way too long and some of the bikers noticed her, she felt like a child and she looked away, hanging her head a bit low to mind her business, and she took a stool at the bar. She looked at the bar maid in front of her, she had long curly blonde hair with nude make-up, her frame was petite and she was very pretty. She wore a black spandex shirt and a pair of black tight jeans with a belt with a large decorative buckle. She had ivy tattoos on her arms and a tattoo of Marylyn Manroe on her hand with the words "FUCK YOU" printed on each of her digits. When she was turning away, there was a tattoo saying "John 3:16" on her neck, maybe this woman was a believer considering her life was not much.

"John 3:16?" Zoey tried to strike up a conversation,

"Yes, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." She turned away to pour another mug, and the customer passed her a bill. Zoey smiled in return and looked away, "Are you going to' ask for anything Hun?" The woman walked towards her, Zoey looked at her and the woman seemed to be studying her, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"You can tell?" Zoey turned to look at herself, maybe it was her pale skin, or the bags under her eyes,

"Well not really, but you looked scared, maybe a drink?" The woman was filling a mug, and then she set the mug in front of Zoey.

"Um...I-I don't drink..." Zoey tried to deny it by pushing the mug away, "But I'll pay you anyway..."

"No need." The blonde smiled, "I'll just drink it myself." She grabbed the mug and held it to her lips and tipped the mug. When she put it down, the mug was half empty. "So what do you want?"

"Do you have anything non-alcoholic?" Zoey rubbed at her bruise again,

"We have some coke cola, pepsi, sprite, root beer...or some club soda." She leaned in,

"I'll have a club soda." Zoey reached into her pocket for money,

"Its on me, there's no price on kindness." The blonde smiled again, she passed her the can and Zoey took it with shaking hands,

"Is there a phone I can borrow?" Zoey looked up at the barmaid,

"Yeah, it's a payphone though, it's by the bathroom." The woman pointed, and then Zoey opened the can and took a long swig. She stood up from the stool and made her way to the phone. She turned a short corner and reached for the phone and passed a few coins into the machine. She was missing a few coins when a tall man walked out of the men's room. The man who walked out wore a white muscle shirt and a black leather vest. His arms were covered in tattoos, he wore black jeans covering his heavy boots, and he lumbered his way down the hall when Zoey stopped to turn to him, he had a strong jaw line and rugged look. He passed her an odd look,

"Do you have any change?" Zoey asked politely,

"Um...yeah," He rummaged in his vest pocket tilting his head upwards to feel for a few coins. He grabbed a handful of chump change and dropped it heavily into her small hands. She struggled trying to keep some of them from falling,

"I think that's more than enough, thank you." Zoey smiled weakly, obviously embarrassed,

"Don't mention it." He oddly responded in a happy tone to her flushed cheeks and walked past her. Zoey turned to the phone and inserted more change. She poured the change in her hand onto the phone so that maybe other people could use it. She dialled her father's number and she waited, there was no answer, instead the answering machine answered and she gave her message at the end of the beep. She dialled his number four more times before giving up and she became frantic. She turned around, with a new hopeful sense she walked back to the bar. She noticed the man who gave her the change earlier was sitting on her stool. She took a breath, she couldn't put her finger on to why she was nervous and she sat on the stool beside the man. The man looked at her for a while as Zoey reached for her can and held it tightly in both of her hands. She looked away trying not to meet his eyes and sipped her can. "Seriously?" The man laughed, the barmaid looked in their direction,

"What?" Zoey kept looking away while trying her best to sound offended,

"This is a bar, not some pansy ass diner!" He laughed into his mug, right then and there she wanted to punch him in the mouth...but he obviously looked indestructible.

"I don't drink alcohol." She became flushed again,

"Then why are you here?" He smiled, raising a hand and passing the barmaid a bill.

"She's here because she saw a ghost." The barmaid laughed,

"No, I came here because I'm running from zombies." Zoey looked away, embarrassed and offended simultaneously.

"Zombies!?" The man burst out laughing, everyone in the bar turned to them, even the barmaid giggled.

"You know, when you walked in here I thought you were crazy." The barmaid walked towards the man and poured him another drink.

"I'm not, seriously..." Zoey became furious,

"Okay sure then. Say if I believe you, what are we supposed to do?" The man was humouring her,

"Grab a weapon to defend yourself." She sipped her soda.

"Alright then." The man kept laughing, "I'm fine with that." He turned to Zoey, his body was too close to hers since he had girth and she was tiny. She felt uncomfortable and tried to scoot her body away. She couldn't take it, maybe she was crazy, but she couldn't have imagined seeing her entire campus as zombies, watching horror movies for long periods of time are finally doing damage. She rubbed her head; the man was still turned towards her. She felt like crying out of frustration, in this point and time in her life she's finally having a nervous breakdown, but she knew what she saw and she knew what they were going to do. Instead of crying she slammed her head on the table and covered her head. "Jeez you're a mess." The man commented and turned back to the barmaid.

When all was silent, the man kept looking over his shoulder to watch Zoey, she never lifted her head, she was trapped in her thoughts, trying to diagnose herself but it can prove to be difficult.

Then there were screams heard from outside the bar and Zoey jumped, with wide eyes and held onto the mans arm.

"What the hell are you doing?" The man tried to shake her off,

"They're here! Run!" Zoey pulled the man off his stool with incredible strength as the zombies began to tear through the door. The man looked back at the door as Zoey kept pulling him towards the hallway to the bathroom.

"No fucking way!" The man yelled and then a woman zombie pushed through and ran full speed towards the barmaid; the zombie jumped over the bar and grabbed her neck. The drunkards at the bar were horrified, frozen in fear as they watched the female zombie tear up the woman limb from limb. The man watched closely as he pushed his body against the wall, Zoey was finding a way out, she opened the men's door, and there was no window. She looked in the women's room, no window, no escape. The zombies broke through and they started attacking the biker gang, killing others as well. The biker gang fought back and most of the zombies were preoccupied with the gang. Zoey grabbed the man by the arm,

"Go into the bathroom!" She yelled pushing him into the men's room. The zombies noticed them and the man closed the door behind him, "Over here!" Zoey screamed trying to distract them, running into the women's room. She closed the door and the zombies were ripping the door open at a surprising speed. She ran from the door, and when two zombies got in, they ran towards her. She looked around for a moment and pushed open a stall and locked it. The zombies were banging on the metal door and not one of them thought to go underneath, instead she saw hands on the top of the stall...they were trying to climb over the stall. She reacted fast and went down, hard onto her belly and began to crawl under the stalls. She made her way to the door when she noticed through the torn hole in the women's door the man peeked from behind the men's door. He caught a glimpse of her and he went to the door. Zoey stood up and made a dash, the man reached his hand out for her and she grabbed it. She squeezed her body through the hole adorned with splinters and sharp broken pieces of wood jutting inwards while still holding onto his hand. He pulled her out, putting another hand around her back so he could pull her away from grabbing hands. "Over there!" Zoey pointed towards the doors, the gang were dukeing it out with the undead, giving Zoey, and the stranger beside her, a chance to escape. She ran through the door and the man ran in an opposite direction. "What are you doing?" She yelled, opening her car door. The man pulled a shotgun from the side of his motorcycle, and as one zombie was about to attack him he aimed the barrel to the zombies face. With a loud sound splitting shot, the lead was lodged into the zombies' head ripping through to the other side and splitting its head apart while knocking it clear off his shoulders. The body fell to the ground in a heaping bloody mess. The man turned to Zoey when the group of zombies inside, alarmed by the shot, came running outside. The man ran for Zoey and he climbed in the passenger seat cocking his shotgun. "You don't have to lock it, they can't open doors." Zoey breathed out starting the engine. She shifted the stick into reverse and then into drive, and made a quick getaway down the highway. After five minutes of silence, Zoey finally struck up a conversation, "Do you have a license for that thing?" keeping her eyes on the road.

"Fuck no, why would I need one?" He held the shotgun; he looked as if he was thinking about something when he put the shotgun in the backseat.

"It's illegal..." Zoey's voice became slightly inaudible.

"Well, nowadays, I'm pretty sure the police wouldn't give a shit since it's the zombie apocalypse." He turned to look at her.

"Oh so now you believe me." She bluntly stated,

"Well...yeah." He answered simply, the simplicity of the response made her angry.

"Well...what's your name?" Zoey brushed off her anger to curiosity.

"Francis."

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**There is more to come, seriously though, its only M for violence =.= And other stuff that is bound to happen in the future. R&R**


	2. The Turnpike

Alright here folks, this is the second chapter. I broke up some paragraphs for relaxation of straining eyes. So far, I hope you're all still enjoying this. R&R :3

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:.:.:Chapter 2:.:.:

..:The Turnpike:..

"You know, I'm not usually used to getting into a car with a complete stranger." Zoey rubbed her neck; the bruise was starting to become annoying.

"I do it all the time." Francis was studying her car by tilting his head a few times and turning around to study the damage to the car.

"My name is Zoey." She quickly responded, trying to avoid the awkwardness his comment possessed. It was also uncomfortably questionable.

"Well it's nice to meet you Zoey." Francis turned back, his tone hadn't changed in the past several minutes they were driving, and it was as if nothing ever happened before except that he got a free lift.

"Did you not just see zombies and shoot one, why are you acting normal...U-Unbelievable!" Zoey threw up her hand, as if emphasizing her feelings. She was amazed at this mans ability to not see the reality around him, "Hasn't this affected you at all?" In an appalled tone while shaking her head slightly.

"Well hell yeah it has, I can kill whomever I want because I have a reason to." He stated with a large grin plastered on his face, "No law, and no order, just the way I like it." He playfully rubbed his hands together accompanied with a joyful mood.

"You're talking to me like I'm your new pal or something." Zoey brushed at her bruise again, this man hadn't looked friendly or like a social butterfly just a few horrifying moments ago and now he's boasting about his excitement for the zombies dominating the world. "I'm seriously wondering which side you're on..." She said inaudibly.

"I really don't mind...you know what, we're really on the same page with this whole zombie apocalypse." He nodded solemnly.

"What?" Zoey thought the man was ludicrous, "You're crazy, and you're just some hooligan who insulted me earlier!" She wasn't concentrating on the road but instead was trying to find a more functional way of repressing her anger and embarrassment.

"Well I apologize..." He said softly, he leaned in to look at her, and she turned to look at him and she immediately flushed, a little _mesmerized_ by the _honesty_ in his eyes and the _handsome rugged qualities_ he had, "...Not!" He laughed and leaned towards the passenger window.

_Scratch that_, she said to herself. "Ugh! You're a beast!" She turned away focusing on the road,

"Well we'll be besties then." Francis chuckled taking out a cigarette from his vest pocket.

"Did you just say 'besties'? Zoey frowned with an added smile.

"Come on, relax a little, there were a few zombies, some people died, its all good, even when the apocalypse is among us and we may not make it out alive." Francis was moving his hands as he spoke and the cigarette stayed snug between his index and middle fingers, "We might as well as be friends, since it only happens in one life time do you ever meet a badass and befriend one, I mean, your not exactly my type." He put the cigarette to his mouth, lit his lighter and lit the smoke.

"Francis!" Zoey yelled out angrily for reasons unknown, "Why don't you shove that shotgun up your ass!" Zoey gritted her teeth minimally with tight lips, and instead of responding with fear, Francis laughed momentarily caught between wanting to cough.

"Goddamn girl!" He looked at her, "You're cute when you're mad." He continued to chuckle, he put his hand on her head and petted her and then puffing his cigarette and exhaling less than half he inhaled. She hung her head low and smirked with a slight frown. "I think you're mad cause' you're not my type." He crossed his arms somewhat satisfied with himself.

When they reached the Riverside turnpike a distance away she was forced to stop the car. There were displaced and sometimes flipped cars and trucks blocking the road, and she didn't want to risk anything to go off-roading, her car wasn't equipped. The sky was darker now and it was two p.m. When they were driving there were other cars going down the same lane, and when she parked her car in the position she stopped on the highway, a fury of drivers and loud noises of honking rose from the line behind her. Francis took a big drag of his cigarette, sucking in half of it. He bumped the ash away with only one fourth of it leftover.

"Let's turn around Zoe." Francis said, Zoey was taken aback at the way her name was said but she quickly responded,

"I can't yet, I have a few things to do in Riverside." She brushed her bangs out of her face.

"Are you telling me we have to keep going on?" Francis raised his eyebrows in surprise while pointing towards the tunnel.

"Yes...but we'll have to walk." Zoey bit her thumb nail, as if strategizing in her mind.

"Alright." Francis reached for his shotgun.

"Seriously? Zoey was surprised that he agreed,

"Yeah, let's go." Francis inserted a few more rounds of shells in his shotgun,

"Really?" Zoey asked in a blunt tone, she was unsure if he was joking or not,

"Well if you have some biz to do...Then let's do it." He looked at her, waiting for a move,

"Truly?" Zoey tried to confirm his position.

"We're besties right, we gotta' stick together." He opened the car door spitting out the finished cigarette into the ditch.

"Okay then." Zoey, once again taken by surprise, responded with a perplexed tone. She ripped her key out of the ignition. The car behind them pulled up beside Zoey when she got out of her car.

"What's going on here?" The man stuck out his head,

"You can turn around; obviously the route to Riverside is blocked." Zoey pointed, the man got out of his car.

"I got _important business_ in Fairfield." The man was nervous; he was tight lipped about something since he made it obvious.

"Fairfield?" Zoey was surprised, "Why do you need to go there?"

"Like I said _business_...so what's going on here?" The man took off his business coat and threw it in the car.

"Zombie Apocalypse!" Francis walked around the car with a shotgun in hand; it made the man flinch and back away,

"Watch it!" The man raised his hands, the other people behind them continued to honk, and some of them yelled obscenities. "You already know?" Zoey studied the man, he was an African native, but spoke like an American, he wore a white business shirt with a loosened red tie...he was obviously miffed about something..._something like the Zombie Apocalypse_! (Dun dun duuuun~)

"If you need to get to Fairfield that's not my problem, but you're welcome to follow, as long as you have your own weapon." Zoey reached in the back seat and grabbed her metal bat. The man was surprised, the people behind them were honking furiously, and some were crashing into each other trying to make a 'u' turn.

"How do you even reach Fairfield?" Francis cut in.

"There's supposed to be soldiers evacuating people in Riverside." The man explained.

"You mean there's a possibility that the people in Riverside are saved?" Zoey perked up, in light of a new event, she felt hope that her sister and father were rescued already.

"I didn't mean _all_ of them, I mean _some_." The man continued, "Anyways, there was also a report that there are infected people in Riverside as well so I'm not entirely square on it." He put his hands into his pockets. He sported a flashy watch, Zoey saw him as a business man of sorts.

"So, what's your name?" Zoey asked, then her attention went to Francis since she saw him head back into the car.

"My name's Louis." He reached a hand out for her to shake it,

"I'm Zoey-Oh now what, stop that Francis..." Zoey let go of Louis' hand and walked towards Francis,

"I was just curious." Francis looked at Zoey deviously, "But I totally love women who like the deadly combination of chocolate and chicken wings." He chuckled to himself throwing the bag delicately into the backseat. Apparently he grabbed a water bottle.

Zoey turned to cover her face in embarrassment. "Uh...This is...Francis..." She minced her words for Francis' introduction. Francis waved slightly and Louis did the same.

"MOVE YOUR ASS!" A mad truck driver rolled up beside Louis' car and purposely crashed into it, pushing it out of the way as the mad truck driver parked in front of them. Zoey pulled Louis to safety, "Oh so now what the hell is going on here?" The man stuck out his head,

"Calm down its not like you can get past here!" Zoey pushed Louis behind her,

"What the hell is your problem?" Louis yelled holding his fists up which made him look like a feeble little girl causing Zoey to stretch out her hand and push him back. The man stuck his head back into the truck; he was rustling around for a few moments when he opened the truck door. He held an assault rifle in one hand and a bag of ammunition in the other and began to walk towards the turnpike.

"Wait, by any chance are you heading to Riverside to be rescued?" Zoey stopped the man before he went further by putting a gentle hand on his bicep. The man turned around, his image was revealed by the truck light. He was obviously an army veteran; he wore a beret adorned with a metal, maybe in his sixties, and wore coordinating clothing of green to darker tones.

"Yes." He answered bluntly, he wasn't the friendliest. He qualified as a senior, but he seemed more reliable. He continued to walk when there was an explosion six cars away that made everyone shudder and stop in their tracks. After the explosion a crescendo of horrified screams mixed with zombie blabbering, Zoey grabbed Louis by the arm.

"There here!" Zoey began to run with Louis.

"Shit!" The old mad swore, catching up to Zoey and Louis.

"Francis!" Zoey yelled, when she looked back he was cocking the shotgun. She ran towards the cars in front of her and followed the lit path from the high beams of the old mans truck. A few shots were heard and she hadn't stopped running, with the bat at her side. Louis kept his momentum and pretty soon she looked beside her, and with amity of reassurance to have Francis back at her side.

They continued to run when they reached a part of the highway with a few copses, then Zoey turned around to see if the zombies reached any further, or were alarmed that their presence was a few meters away. There weren't any screams heard from the zombies or any seen running towards them, since the people in the line behind them must've led the zombies astray into the forest. She slowed her pace and moved away from the path of the light.

The old man stopped when Zoey stopped running, Francis was already behind her seemingly waiting for her. Louis was frightened and ran away from them in the process, most likely into the thicket. The person who is most likely in danger would be Louis, and it didn't take long for Francis to point it out.

"That chickenshit ran into the fucking trees!" Francis yelled, miffed and ready to beat Louis' face in.

"Well he's a goner." The old man quipped,

"Well we have no choice but to look for him." Zoey looked around, catching her breath. "We need as many people as possible."

"Yeah, I get where you're coming from Zoey, but did you not see his stance just a while ago." Francis rubbed his head, "I mean the guy is gangly." He took the time to refill his shotgun, Zoey responded to Francis with a sly grin.

"I don't know any of you." The old man turned,

"Obviously." Francis frowned.

"Well that doesn't mean the girl is wrong, the attack has been going on for two weeks." He turned back to Zoey, "There could be a whole shitload just waiting to rip us apart in there."

"Two weeks!?" Zoey was genuinely surprised, "What does that mean?" Zoey walked towards him,

"It means the infection started two weeks ago, what are you retarded?" The old man asked apparently surprised,

"No! I'm just saying Riverside was evacuated two weeks ago?" Zoey was in disbelief, and sounded more out of breath from her lack or knowledge more than the running.

"Yeah, but apparently they're still holding out back there for any more survivors." The old man watched Zoey's reaction as she slipped back towards where Francis was standing.

Disastrous events shook her tenfold, and the evacuation took place two weeks ago...nothing made sense, nothing made sense to how her father managed to call her, or how Nancy was still healthy. She couldn't figure as to why her father was worried about her education when they were evacuating in Riverside. _Was it lack of communication?_ She felt like fainting, but instead she fell to her knees. _How? When? Why?... What the fuck!_ She rubbed her neck again; she was beginning to space out, imagining horrifying putrid pictures of her family being maimed beyond measure from a blood thirsty group of zombies.

"Okay, come on." Francis went behind her and put his arms under her shoulders and pulled her up to her feet. Zoey turned to him,

"Shit's going to hell real fast." She sounded exhaled sharply,

"Well it already went to hell, now it's just us left." The old man continued towards the thicket.

"Where are you going?" Francis was still holding onto Zoey, who spaced out again.

"The girl is right whether we like it or not, I've seen the infection first-hand...and she's the most sensible person I've encountered in those weeks..." He paused, "Even if she just found out." The old man continued down his path.

"Zoey concentrate!" Francis shook her lightly; she looked up at him and gripped her bat.

"Sorry, this is not the most enlightening thing to happen to me today." It was as if someone kicked her puppy, the puppy being the idea that there was a possibility that her father and younger sister were still alive. She walked past Francis who followed behind her closely; worried she might fall again in a depressed heap of bones and flesh.

"It's best if we try not to yell for his name." The old man walked past the ditch and into the direction Louis ran.

"By the way- Zoey was interrupted,

"The name's Bill...if that's what you're asking." He turned to look at her momentarily,

"Hm, Bill's more together than you are...uh, this is Francis." Zoey admirably responded as Francis hawked spit into the grass as if a sign of defiance and the remnants of the cigarette.

They walked for several minutes in silence, every crunch of stepped on twigs made them paranoid beyond measure, the narrow light of Bill's flashlight added to the atmosphere. When they have been walking a narrow path, blindly in the direction Louis ran, they finally came across an abandoned shack, thankfully with no zombies hovering around the area.

"I bet the shrapnel in my knee that Louis is in that shack." Bill chuckled as if admiring Louis' childishness.

"I bet my left nut he's not." Francis responded boldly. Zoey cringed for a second as a response to Francis' bet.

They got closer to the shack; Bill used the tip of his assault rifle to open the door and they saw an object in the corner that looked just like Louis (Author: HAHAHAHA that sounded retarded).

"I get your left nut Francis." Bill chuckled as Louis looked up at the flashlight directly being pointed at his face.

"Zombies got Francis' left nut?" Louis was perplexed and relieved that it was the group that found him. Zoey laughed in return and Francis walked to Louis.

"Okay Princess, lets get going." Francis helped him up, he reached for his hand and Louis happily got to his feet.

"What was goin' through your mind son?" Bill asked menacingly towards Louis,

"I got scared; obviously a person whose life is threatened will eventually make a break for it." Louis dusted the lower part of his pants, "Either way I'm thankful it was you guys that found me and not those infected." Louis cringed slightly to the word.

"Well we'll have to keep going, the turnpike it in that direction, it shouldn't take us too long." Bill pointed outside the shack.

"When I was in here I found some things you'll guys might want." Louis rustled in the tool drawers of the shack, "There's a house back there, and probably a farm...but I was too afraid to go check it myself." Louis grabbed out two long objects, the group turned to look at him when he passed out heavy duty flashlights.

"Oh thank god..." Zoey sighed in relief; she turned on the flashlight and looked around the shack while Francis played with his, making shadow puppets on the wall and partially out the window.

"It would be awful if the infected saw the lights and murdered us all." Louis tried to get his point across slightly while Francis looked away and grunted.

"Speak of the devil..." He said low under his breath.

"Goddammit Francis, little bunny foo foo blew our cover!" Zoey angrily said audibly under her breath.

The rest of the group focused their sight out the window of the shack and at once; they all seemed to developed a symbiotic relationship and shut off all of their flashlights. Zoey focused on the figure walking outside, it was a pale figure, and soon more peeked out from the trees. Her eyes were going wild as she tried to get used to the dark. Louis made his way to the shack door beside Bill. Zoey then made her way to the door and accidentally knocked over a few gardening tools.

The rake over fell over and it hit Francis' shin. It was the noise that attracted the pale figures in the forest to an all too familiar howl of screams.

"Ow! Fuck! Why does it have to be on the sharp side?" Francis nimbly made his way past Zoey and Bill "What are the fucking chances?!" He ran out the door turning on his flashlight.

"I'm sorry Francis!" Zoey ran after him turning on her flashlight.

It was as if it was the famous scene in The Blair Witch Project where you see them running through the forest screaming and running for their lives and them somewhat seeing figures in the forest running after them as the camera filmed them with night vision. Bill lugged his way making a new path in the forest and mentally everyone thought to follow him.

"Can they smell your FEAR!?" Zoey panicked and by now she entered the whole 'GO APESHIT' mode.

"Snap out of it your crazy moron! Just keep your legs pumping!" Bill yelled while the screams were getting louder, meaning the zombies were hot on their trails.

"Can they smell your BLOOD?!" Zoey continued to scream,

"Stop it you're scaring the shit out of me!" Francis yelled at her, and before he made it known, he did it by running towards her, catching up to her, and then yelling it in her face.

"Get away from me! You'll get your blood on me!!!" Zoey tried to run in a different direction away from Francis,

"Oh am I scaring you? Wait up; let me give you some HIV!!!" He dug his finger into his scratch, momentarily having to stop, then to catch up to her. He reached out his hand and touched her sweater,

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Zoey screamed trying to slap his hand away, "THEY CAN SMELL IT!!!" She was obviously still in 'apeshit' mode.

"Stop it; you're acting like goddamn children!" Bill ran beside Francis and smacked his hand away with the end of his assault rifle. The screams were getting lower, by the time they reached the highway, the screams had stopped. Zoey ran to a car, stretched her arms out and pushed against it as to force her legs to stop running. She held onto her chest and moved her hand up to her neck, trying to catch her breath and stop her heartbeat from climbing any higher.

Louis stopped beside her and dropped to the asphalt in a tired heap, his legs spread and his hands behind him supporting his back. Francis stopped immediately and gained his breath while putting his hands on his knees for support. He coughed for a few seconds and swallowed, and tried to gain his breath once more. Bill was already a mess, but to him, the idea of running from a possible horde came off as exciting as he rested against a car. Bill grabbed a smoke from his pocket and lit it, letting the cigarette hang from the corner of his mouth. At this time of all four being together, they each took a different liking to each other.

Zoey caught her breath and continued to walk down the highway; Louis sat up and followed her down the road. Francis raised his shotgun while Bill followed behind them swinging the assault rifle over his shoulder.

"Do you really have HIV?" Louis asked,

"I knew you'd ask that sometime." Francis muttered,

"That'd be devious." Zoey flicked away the bugs surrounding a few corpses along the highway,

"No." Francis looked at Zoey sincerely, "I thought it was funny."

"You're cruel Francis." Louis passed at him,

"Well it's not like any infected person cares, for gods sake it's the end of the world as we speak, who gives a shit, either way I wouldn't have said anything." Francis passed back.

"He's right anyways, the whole fucking world is gone, and who gives a shit anymore." Bill was swapping away at some insects as they rolled up from a smelling rotting corpse on a car hood.

"The only thing that matters is survival." Zoey added in, hoping it would wash the argument before it became heated. Louis silently went back to being introvert when Zoey was curious to whom these three men were in their past lives. "Hey Louis? What did you used to do?" She looked at him as they walked,

"What do you mean?" Louis kept looking further down the highway,

"What did you do before the infection?" Zoey looked at the ground while everyone went quiet to hear his answer,

"I used to be a junior systems analyst at an IT department...that doesn't exist anymore." Louis smiled to himself, "I was trying to quit my job, but I was too nice, so I spent most of my time working up the courage to quit. I was so spineless that time, even now, it's funny when you ask me this now, because it's still to surreal." Louis put his hands in pockets, "What did you do before?" He asked Zoey,

"I was a student for a college not far from Riverside. I was literally like a hermit crab; I holed myself in my dorm room, or at least when I planned it...until all of my exams were over watching old horror movies." Zoey looked down, and all of her emotions came flooding in, but her voice hadn't wavered when she continued, "It wasn't until early this morning I learned the entire human populating was being downsized due to a zombie apocalypse. And that my family is already dead by now and I have nothing to sport for myself...I don't know why I have to survive..." She whispered before she ended her answer. Francis perked up to her last comment, though she did not see his reaction, it seemed as it affected him deeply. "Francis..." She turned slightly, he reacted strongly to his name and he walked closer to Zoey, "What were you before?" Francis asked and then Louis looked down at Zoey; even he had the same question.

"I was a biker, apart of a run-down group. I took those rag tag men as my family, because I didn't know my parents that well. I ran away when I was sixteen, the same time I learnt to build my own bike. Since then I've done nothing with my life, I got money either from the gang or selling drugs and I drank at a lot at bars. Come to think about it, I never had a home to go to; I usually passed out at somebody else's house or hung out at the bar until morning. And, for a while though, I had a few mechanic jobs but it's been quiet until the infection flooded in. It was during that week when a few days ago I split from the gang because I wanted to do something else for a change." He stopped, he knew, that the things he talked about were unnecessary, but necessary for Zoey to hear, that to survive is to achieve, to get a message across that she understood. He noticed her expression changed and it seemed as if being friends with her had brighter days. "Anyways, that's when I met you, just like you, I was clueless." Francis smiled slightly when Zoey turned to look at him, and then he turned to Bill, "What about you old man?"

"I got too many stories you'd all probably fall asleep afterwards." Bill grunted,

"Come on Bill." Zoey encouraged, Louis smiled slightly, thinking that it wasn't too bad being with a miscellaneous group of odd personalities.

"Well, it doesn't take a Rocket Scientist to figure out that I've been in a few wars." He took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled as he spoke, "And that I've been a drifter since then." He continued to walk behind them to give them some cover if any infected wanted to pop his head out and go 'boo.' When they reached a certain distance away, Bill couldn't tell if the bridge was blocked. Louis ran towards something and Francis wanted to maim him because he thought he was running away again.

"Look there's some weapons in here!" He slightly opened the car trunk more to reveal an ammo stack and a few guns. Zoey and the rest of the gang perked up as they made their way to the pile. There was a combat shotgun, an assault rifle, a pistol on the hood and a submachine gun. You could go technical with the actual names, but who'd want to waste so much time pronouncing the name when in those three seconds of saying the technical terms you could be already shooting at zombies before they reach you. Zoey rubbed her hand along the shotgun and grabbed at it. "Guys at work used to laugh at me when I spent my lunch hours at the rifle range," Louis grabbed an assault rifle and continued, "Ain't so damn funny now is it?"

"Zoey, ever handled one of those before?" Francis tilted the shotgun Zoey held up for her, as if trying to aim it for her,

"Well, I could learn..." She cocked the shotgun, "On the way perhaps." She looked up at Francis to smile and reassure him.

"I trust you can handle something that big." He chuckled when Bill slightly pushed past him to look into the back of the car. He picked up the ammo and inserted more into his bag and into his gun.

"I wonder who stockpiled these ammo and guns." Bill said to himself as he passed a case of shells to Zoey. She looked at her belt and ripped out a metal hook from behind the box and slung it on the back of her belt. Bill passed a case of shells to Francis and gave Louis a few clips for his assault rifle. He then hung the bag over his shoulder and then his other to carry it as a backpack.

"I'm guessing maybe that were in for a surprise once we get past the bridge." Zoey went to the front of the car and grabbed a pistol.

"The surprises just don't stop coming do they?" Louis sounded exasperated and everyone noticed his change in tone. He was a few meters away, "The Bridge is out." He pointed several meters ahead of them.

"What?" Francis started,

"Most likely an explosion." Bill walked past Zoey and Francis signalling for them to follow. They continued down the highway while Francis and Louis kept a lookout behind and to their sides. Zoey turned on her flashlight on the shotgun and doubled the light with Bills rifle light to make a wider path. It was four p.m., and it looked as if the sky was going to storm, yet it hadn't threatened to for the past few hours. When they reached the bridge they stopped for a few moments to take in the situation.

"When there's a will there's a way." Zoey pointed to the ladders on each of the sides that were dimly lit by either the road lights or of natural settings.

"Okay, we'll split into two teams." Bill went around the broken bridge, "Francis you're with me, Louis and Zoey will be on the other side." He pointed for their direction, and subtly, like a whisper in a breeze, Francis looked back at Zoey at him. They rustled their way down the ravine, not knowing that there were a few zombies tucked under the girth of what was left of the bridge, and in the mist leading deeper into the forest.

Zoey walked in front of Louis when he grabbed her shoulder abruptly, she turned around and saw a group of infected facing away from them and watching Francis and Bill. Instinctively she raised her shotgun and fired, Louis had no choice but to defend her. The muzzle blast and muzzle flash alerted the horde walking around the vicinity. Dead bodies piled under her feet until the infected attention turned to Zoey and blindly ran after her. She picked up her pace and shuffled down the ravine, the infected picked up her location like homing missiles and they launched themselves after her. Louis was shooting the infected coming from the forest as he shuffled with her. Francis and Bill were fighting an onslaught,

"Boomer!" Bill yelled. The word was unrecognizable except for Louis since it was vague. "Watch your ass!" He yelled. Zoey was unsure if he was yelling at Francis or Louis or her. It was already too late to blurt out and ask him when a bullet whizzed past Zoey's head and a loud explosion occurred. She turned around when a liquid splashed through the air and coated her along with Louis who swore loudly. She couldn't hear anyone since the liquid was dripping past her ears muffling out everything.

"Oh GROSS!" She yelled, some of the terrible smelling liquid went into her throat, and she wanted to vomit so badly but the limbs hitting her body were distracting her. She was being easily overwhelmed by the zombies as they piled on her, she closed her eyes, begin afraid the terrible liquid would seep into them, she shot her gun furiously into any random directions to get them off of her. She then felt a hand push down her shotgun and she screamed, then she heard a familiar voice as all she had to do was stand. She began to wipe at her face, the liquid dripped like water afterwards.

When her eyes were free she saw Francis pushing away and shooting a few infected away until she was relieved. Louis was beside Bill covered in the liquid and fighting for their lives. Zoey cocked her shotgun and shot again at the zombies, every time she shot she gripped the shaft hard so she wouldn't let it fly out and it left her hands cramped. Francis grabbed her by the arm and began to run with her down the ravine to the ladders. Louis and Bill scrambled to the opposite ladder when Zoey turned to shoot at the zombies who were scarping at their heels so they had a chance to climb the ladder. Francis once again took her arm and threw her towards the ladder in front of him, and she had no choice but to climb it. He followed behind her, and once in a while he would look down to shoot off the ankle biters.

When she reached a platform before a second ladder, she let him pass as she shot at the infected climbing up and clawing at her. Francis reached the top and Zoey jumped onto the ladder and sloppily made her way up to solid ground.

"Hunter!" Bill yelled and Louis responded frantically by shooting at a loud creature that was jumping all over the place. "Zoey!" Bill yelled, Zoey looked up and couldn't see the hunter until the horrifying scream echoed in the air and Francis jumped out of the way. She reacted slowly as the hunter pounced her. It gripped her shoulders and dug its nails into her skin, as she screamed out in pain, "Holy shit, hunters got Zoey!" Bill ran over as Francis got off the ground. The hunter purposely rolled over so that they could roll down the ravine. Zoey acted by opposing and wrestling with him, and when he pinned her down, she could feel his legs around her waist and she could see his claws, ready to dig. The hunter brought down one claw after another as it ripped at her sweater, his right claw came down and ripped into her side, digging far into her ribs causing her to scream louder.

"G-Get it off me!" She screamed in pain.

"You son of a bitch!" Francis came to her side and wacked the hunter in the side of its face with the end of his empty shotgun causing it to stumble back. He walked closer as he continued to whack the hunter in the face, and kick it over whenever it made an attempt to escape.

"Run!" Louis yelled as he shot a few infected on his towards the tunnel. Bill grabbed at Zoey and pulled her up to her feet. She picked up her shotgun and began to run as fast as she could, Francis followed as they made their way into the tunnel. The infected numbers went down by a tiny notch, but they managed to pass the ravine alive. Louis slowed down once he got into the tunnel, realizing how pitch black it was. He turned on his light and searched the sides of the tunnel, it was desolate, which explained the immense amount of infected that got into the ravine.

They remained quiet as they made their journey, unsure if someone spoken one word it would alarm any infect nearby until they came across a hidden group of infected nearing the end of the tunnel. It was partially blocked so they had to climb over the cars. They shot the infected, making sure each shot wasn't wasted they aimed with accuracy and took out each infected spotted in the tunnel. Everything was running smoothly,

"Smoker!" He yelled aiming his rifle upwards and shooting at a taller infected that coughed loudly. When they reached the end of the tunnel, it was blocked off by another pile of cars and they were forced to take another route. When everything was quiet enough, Zoey couldn't help but ask,

"Did you give those things nicknames Bill?"

"Yeah, because I don't know what they really are." He continued to lead them down the new route.

"Do you mind explaining that to me before something else throws up on me?" Zoey asked humorously,

"Well, the thing I like to call, that threw up on you is a Boomer." Bill continued, "They're fat bloated infected with some type of vomit that attracts the infected...so it royalty fucks us over and our cover most of the time."

"Most of the time?" Zoey raised a brow,

"Well you can shove them away, if you do it hard enough, you can tip them over...like cow tipping." He took a drag of his cigarette, "Never tried it though."

"Tipping a Boomer?" She asked,

"No, a cow." He corrected,

"What's a hunter?" Zoey asked again,

"It was that thing that pounced on you and wanted to tear your apart. They only have that name because they're quiet; until shit goes crazy and they make loud screams before they go in for the kill."

"What's a smoker?" She asked, with any further questions she began to sound like a child.

"Well all it does is basically shoot its tongue out at you and drag you away. Either way, those are slippery bastards; they cause a lot of grief and trouble. Though, they are easy to find since they cough and have smoke around their bodies...hence the name."

"What else is there?" She looked up at him admiringly,

"Well there's a tank...and then there's a witch." Bill looked as if he was recounting in his mind,

"What are those?" She looked at the ground again,

"In due time, you'll know." Bill took the cigarette out of his mouth and threw it on the ground. It was only two minutes when he grabbed another and put it in his mouth.

Zoey thought to herself, she tried to imagine a tank. All she could muster up was an actual army tank that blabbered and is always yelling obscenities at them because it's so slow...and that they have a mutated body growing on the tank...and it somehow gained mind control over the vehicle. For a witch, there was really nothing going on in her mind except for the broomstick and pointy hat, and the creepy laugh...she couldn't very well be imaginative to what a witch's purpose was, and left it as it was. She thoughtfully looked at the ground when Bill made a turn to what looked like sewers. "Where are we going?"

"This way is our best bet." Bill decided,

The tunnel was constantly blocked off, and the oxygen was scarce, so they had to make a detour in the tunnel by going through smaller sections and past maintenance hallways. When they reached the ends of every hallway, they were forced to go through another path with a lethal amount of infected hiding in smaller rooms. At the end of a very short hallway, they could not go any further because a fence was blocking their direction. So they turned to open a door that led down a few stairs. There were a few doors to choose from and they split into two teams fearing that a horde would make its appearance.

"I can't breathe in here anymore, it stinks." Zoey was covering her mouth,

"It's probably the smell they give off when you shoot them." Bill opened the door that led to a large well lit room with a steel grate floor.

"Their blood?" Louis asked,

"Well...technically it's not really blood if it looked gooey and a little green." Bill responded, "They might be changing into actual zombies after all." He thought out loud. Louis looked away as to avert himself.

"Jesus H Christ it's like a ghost town in here." Francis commented when they walked along the floor until they saw stairs leading to the surface.

"Fresh air!" Zoey declared in a refreshing mood. Zoey slightly ran towards the stairs when she stopped dead in her tracks. Francis noticed first that she stopped, and pretty soon he felt something. Bill looked at them oddly, when his expression went to dread and the color drained from his face. Louis slowly reached for Bills arm as to signal him to fall back. Zoey's face was contorted in confusion, and then it came, a loud thundering of steps and the sounds of muffled growling and groaning. She pointed her flashlight upwards and Bill looked as if he wanted to strangle Zoey for some strange reason,

"Zoey." Bill scolded,

"What?" She whispered,

"Taaaaaank." Bill whispered sharply. The expression on Louis' face was dread and that even his skin drained of color. They were mortified except for Zoey and Francis who were confused. Francis slowly walked to Zoey and he grabbed her shotgun to avert the flashlight, and as he was pulling it up, the flashlight lit up a certain part in the darkness. Instead the flashlight was directly pointed onto the Tanks face as it was glaring at them through the dark from above the stairs and Zoey's jaw dropped. It heaved an ear shattering growl and everyone covered their ears, Zoey lost her mind once more and went into 'Apeshit' mode.

"Fuck this shit!" She pushed past Francis and grabbed his shoulder, the hulking creature stomped its way down the stairs in a surprising speed and nearly grabbed at Francis, screaming and howling at them. Zoey felt the spit from his raging screams as it landed in her hair and she was sure Francis was being showered. It followed so close to them that Bill and Louis ran yelling for their lives.

"I didn't sign up for this shit!" Bill jumped down past the metal grate floor pulling on Louis' shirt. Louis landed on his ass and Bill began to shoot at the Tank, emptying every clip into its body. Francis was beginning to lag behind and the Tank swiped an arm at him and missed, but instead the Tank trampled Francis since its attention was on Zoey.

"AW SHIT! IT BROKE MY ASS!" Francis yelled in pain on the floor.

"I'm comin'!" Louis made his way up to the level Francis lay in a heap. He turned to help him but he saw Zoey running towards them again, she was doing laps with the Tank around the room. Louis flipped Francis over and pulled his body onto the floor were they landed roughly. The Tank ran past and Bill kept shooting when his clip became empty.

"Hey ugly!" He yelled at the monster, Zoey began to run wobbly like Forrest Gump looked when he ran with the braces on his legs. She was breathing hard but still going at it and suddenly the Tank had its chance and reached a steroidy veiny bulging arm at her. It smacked her off track like she was nothing and it turned its body towards Bill. Bill was taken back by the speed and ferocity of the creature when it made its way towards him. At the moment the Tank was about to strike, Bill jumped for the second level, grasping onto the ledge. He pulled himself up and the Tank had already jumped onto the second level, it ran towards Bill who was about to get up when Zoey came from behind and began to shoot at it. The rage it displayed meant that its health was depleting, and she emptied all shells into the Tanks back. With the last shot piercing that back of its large hump that put Quasimodo to shame, it fell to its miniature knees and landed on Bill who yelled in pain. It still managed to hurt the old man, even in death. "Get this....off me!" Bill yelled from under its bulging abdomen. "Oh shit, it's leaking on me...someone!" Bill yelled,

Zoey limped to his side and began to kick it. "I'll get you out of there Bill." She coughed out some blood after slamming her body back first into a cement wall. Francis got climbed up and appeared fine except for a few minor injuries, other than that, Louis healed him. Francis walked up to the tank,

"Where's Bill?" Francis looked around, "I'm gonna' miss that man."

"I'm under here jackass!" Bill stuffed his head from under one of the Tanks armpits. Zoey fell against the wall in pain,

"At least you didn't get thrown across the room." She exhaled painfully, and then another sound that was familiar echoed down the stairs. "I'm not surprised they didn't hear the commotion." She exhaled painfully accompanied with a few drops of blood from her mouth.

"Shit!" Louis pushed Zoey to the corner and Francis stood by the tank,

"Hang on old man." Francis turned to the Tanks body.

"What!" He yelled, and with the sound of Bills voice a rush of infected came stumbling down the stairs while some fell over their feet. The infected caught sight of the bizarre incident and ran towards them. They fought the onslaught as Zoey fought to stay alive. She crawled towards the Tanks body and leaned on it so she could stay closer to Francis.

"Boomer!" Louis yelled,

"I got it!" Francis shot from across the room and he continued to punt the infected down to the second level to give him some breathing space. Zoey looked around the room and caught a glimpse of light in a dark space. She focused on the light, with heavy lids she let her shotgun fall to the ground and her breathing became shallow, and the light became brighter. Louis saw the expression on her face and crouched by her side while still shooting the infected coming in the other direction.

"Zoey, wake up!" He shook her shoulder, but the light got brighter and brighter with each passing second. She didn't listen, nor did she look at Louis. The horde was thinning out and Francis immediately turned to Zoey. Louis waited for anymore infected to come down the stairs or through the door, and it was quiet. Francis knelt by her side and slung his gun around his shoulder.

"Help me!" Bill yelled again, Louis leaned against the wall and planted his feet on the tanks arm. He pushed off the wall and slightly moved the Tank off his body.

"Francis help." Louis demanded, he looked down at Zoey, contemplating, but he immediately got up and leaned against the wall and pushed with Louis. With the last heave ho the Tank's body fell to the second level and rolled onto its back. Bill was on his back, with a breathless expression on his face, the cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth was crumpled and his beret was a mess.

Francis quickly switched over to help Zoey off the floor, and he noticed her eyes were closed.

"Zoe?" He whispered while looking down at her body, it was a small loss that he found difficult to get off his chest. "Zoe?" He repeated, his face was grim, Bill was revived and Louis knelt by his side, they both also noticed the intensity of the moment as they watched in silence. Bill snuck another cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Francis knelt closer to Zoey's face and put a hand on her neck to check her breathing. He couldn't tell if she was alive or not because his hand was shaking, so he grabbed Zoey in his arms and held her for a while, deciding what to do. Instead, he spoke to her gently for some odd reason. "Come on Zoe, I know you're still in there, we gotta keep moving...you have to keep moving because I want you to keep moving...its not the same without you." He whispered so low that it was only in the vicinity of her body that she could hear it. His voice was so low that Bill and Louis had trouble understanding, so he whispered again, "Come on, I know you can do it, we all need you..." Francis held something back, the expression on his face never changed, "Please." He looked at her face and saw her wince.

His expression was from grim to relief as he praised himself. He exhaled gently as it brushed her bangs slightly.

"Is she okay?" Louis leaned over,

"Yeah." Francis smirked, "Let's just carry her until we find some place safe."

"There's a safe house just up those stairs." Bill said while he got up.

"Then let's go." Francis put his arms under her back and under her knees and lifted her off the ground. She was surprisingly light.

They had all walked outside and up the hill to see a red metal door and a familiar spray painted sign. Bill opened the door and waited until everyone got inside. He checked a few times around him and he finally walked in shutting the red metal door behind him.

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Third chapter will be a tad shorther :]


	3. The Drains

**Warning: This chapter gets like really retarded**. Its hard to make an in depth chapter about just one checkpoint...and like I said, it was going to be shorter since the second one was two checkpoints. Their relationships unwind, not for the dramatic, not for the romance, for just plain awkward situations and their inexplicable friendliness that was forced...like rape. So I'm making fun of that current situation. Until later, then it will get a little serious and not so retarded like this one, but seriously, I need some release :] **I hope I don't offend anyone**..._ Left 4 Dead and respectable survivors and concepts belong to Valve. _  


* * *

:.:.:Chapter 3:.:.:

.:The Drains:.

Francis settled Zoey's half unconscious body onto the floor next to the table with medical kits. He grabbed for a medical kit and immediately began to heal her starting with her Hunter wounds. Louis wandered around the room and walked up the stairs. He looked outside the red door to see what was ahead.

"We can never catch a break." He groaned, he shone his flashlight around the room with drains and tunnels and had also caught a few of the infected attention. They bore aggression on their faces and ran towards the door with arms minimally stretched forwards. They rammed themselves into the door roughly with their arms reaching forwards towards Louis' face, hoping that their arms could extend like stretch arm strong but they were sadly mistaken when Louis emptied lead into their faces. For Louis, it became a normal thing over time, which in turn had scared him. Bill observed Louis, they were at all odds ends with the Zombie Apocalypse, in fact it had scared him too.

"Why?" Bill watched and tried making a move towards him. Though the pain he felt stopped him from looking and instead using the medical kit he took from the table and applying to his injuries.

"It leads right to the drains." Louis put a hand on his neck and Bill whistled to him. He threw up a bottle of pain pills that he skilfully caught in his hands. Louis wasn't the one used as a punching bag so far, so instead he was used as the one leading the group, which meant he was always the lamb to slaughter.

Bill exhaled peacefully when he finished tying a few bandages around his legs and tightly around his knees. He stretched and then put another cigarette into his mouth, and his attention was focused on Francis and Zoey by the tables as he lit his cigarette. Louis read the silly writings on the wall to himself.

Francis threw away the empty tube of anti-bacterial cream and an empty roll of gauze on the floor. He had rolled up her pant leg to see the gash on her right leg. He wrapped it tightly around her shin. "You gave us a scare." He mentioned trying to make it sound like it wasn't really just him who was worried out of Louis and Bill.

"I did?" She tiredly asked with squinting eyes focused on his hands.

"Yes." He rolled up her pant leg. "Can I see your back?" He asked, he remembered that the Tank had thrown her clear of the room after it suddenly trampled him.

"Uh...y-yeah, s-sure." She nervously turned around and Francis lifted up her sweater. She flinched when he lifted the bottom of her shirt when his fingers lightly rubbed along her back. "You're hands are cold." She breathed heavily, her face became heated and she shut closed her eyes.

"Sorry." He continued to lift her shirt when he saw a large bruise down her spine and along her ribs. "I'm going to have to lift it higher." He warned suddenly and then felt his hand along the bruise. He turned to the med kit and took out long gauze pads and medical tape. There were lesions along to bottom of her shoulder blade and he grabbed a tube of Antibiotic Ointment. He squeezed the cream into his hands and massaged her lesions for a few moments as it relieved Zoey of pain, and cut out a square of gauze pad put it on the wound. He held it there as he measured a length of medical taped and taped each side of the gauze. He pulled down her shirt and pulled down her sweater gently. "Okay, done." He threw the medical kit away since he used mostly everything in it. He grabbed a bottle of pain pills and handed it to Zoey. Her hands were shaking slightly and she grabbed it from his hand weakly. Her face became redder and he tried to look at her to get her attention but she tried to avoid him for the sake of her pride.

"Uh..." She bit her lip from keeping her from saying '_You were oddly gentle' _but also thought it would be awkward, "Thank you." She sighed gently. She got onto her feet slowly, now that she was tended to, she forced herself to walk towards the ammo stack, and pick out a more sufficient weapon in case she were to face another Tank...who was not what she was expecting. She picked up an assault rifle when she noticed Francis was standing behind her..._a little too close_ she narrowed her eyes and her face became flushed again.

"So uh...did you hear much when you hanging on a thread or what?" Francis crossed his arms,

"Hear what?" She raised a brow, trying to dim down the redness on her cheeks.

"What was it like?" He rubbed his neck, focusing on her intensely.

"What was 'what' like?" She raised both her eyebrows.

"Near death experience." He sighed, annoyed.

"Oh...um yeah." She looked away, "I felt like I was drowning." She looked back at him and focused on his eyes and kept mental notes of his body language. "Like, I was in water; I couldn't hear much of anything except for Louis and Bill...I couldn't even feel my own heartbeat. Though, I saw a light on the surface..." She thought to herself for a moment and continued, "There was light above the water, and I was slowly moving upwards, and the more I got closer, every sound seemed to fade away." She paused, recounting, "That's when I noticed I started to fade into the darkness again and I woke up." She intentionally left out the part where she wanted to go back because she felt Francis needed her but her prejudgment was that Francis wouldn't believe her if she told him. He nodded slowly and rubbed his chin,

"So...is that all?" Francis leaned in a little closer folding his arms.

"Yeah." Zoey leaned away and her face was getting hotter...again.

"Nothing else?" He asked with interest that he hardly ever does in the first place. "Do you have some fever? Cause' your face is red." He smirked,

"No." She quickly turned away from him and walked past him concealing her reaction. He unfolded his arms and nodded to himself slowly before he picked up his weapon and walked up the stairs behind her. She couldn't help but notice the intensity of his questions, and his reactions were nothing short of surprise. She wondered why it would matter to Francis if she got hurt badly.

"What the hell was that all about?" Bill was interested in the conversation they had,

"I had a near death experience and he was interested in what it was like." Zoey smiled, Bill looked at her oddly, "Well...the man's indestructible... it'll never happen to him." She looked away waiting for Bill to justify some other answer that he would decide was adequate or would make sense. He knew she was blushing and he could still see it on her face, it was up to him to judge the matter but it was strictly between Francis and her.

"Ready?" Louis asked, flipping off the bar on the red door. He looked back at Francis and Zoey; it was if he already knew what they were talking about, as if he was mocking them because they were probably the only two people in the group who engaged in personal conversations.

"Always." Francis came from behind him, avoiding eye contact with Zoey. She looked down as Bill slightly pushed her in front of him.

"Lady's first." Bill whispered. Zoey smiled weakly again and followed Francis out the door.

Louis carefully stepped out onto the metal grated floor and looked around the dark pointing his flashlight in random directions. Francis walked away in the opposite direction from Louis and pointed his flashlight on the water and around the pipes. The room had seemed empty; the only noises that were heard were the occasional drops of dirty water seeping from openings with loosened bolts on the rusting pipes. The surface drains above them had collected water where it dripped constantly as well and flooding the room beneath the grated floor. The collection of unfiltered water left an odour that rose up into their noses as bad as the smell of a molding basementThe pipes glistened only because of the mucus collection of water stains and moisture that left a gooey surface like the enamel on teeth. Since the room was apart of the drainage system, metal was already rusting to an extent of giving off a tinged odour, and the most prominent attribute of the atmosphere was the humid air and large floating particles in the air.

"I hate water." Francis groaned.

"It smells bad." Louis held his hand to his mouth and nose.

"Well that's not all that smells bad." Bill commented, obviously he smelt something more than just dirty water. He was especially shifty since he had a hunch that the infected weren't hiding that far away from them.

Zoey pointed the flashlight on her assault rifle around the room, the waves in the water became spread out and frequent in one certain spot that caught her eye. She pointed her flashlight to that spot and the light bounced off the water onto the wall. She focused on it hard through the pipes in front of her; Louis was to her left and closet to the object. Her eyes grew wide when the water splashed, an infected stood up through the water wearing an aggressive expression.

"Louis!" Zoey lifted up her gun and the infected began splashing through the water, hiding behind the large pipes obstructing Zoey's aim. She cursed under her breath and Bill ran past her, she stayed by the door and watched their backs. "They're in the water!" Zoey yelled and began shooting at the infected rushing through the water towards Francis. An infected stood up through the water in front of her and she watched it slide under the rails to get to her. She shot at the infected and Francis looked behind him and they both caught each others eyes when he noticed the infected splashing their way towards him.

He looked behind him and began to shoot when Zoey noticed the tunnels leading out of the rooms, and how amplified noises are when they traveled down an elongated object as much as tunnel. The muzzle flash as enough to set off a few infected nearby, but the blast was enough to alert an entire horde. As Francis shot, the noises of all of their bullets traveled with his down the tunnel in a multiplied echo. The familiar screams that came upon them as horrifying as the Silent Hill evacuation horn always made their hairs stand on end. The sounds of countless footsteps scraping and stomping on the metal in the tunnels were rushing from both tunnels.

The infected came through the tunnels in a horde as expected, they managed to climb over each other in the process and jumped or ran out of the tunnels into the water while some were trampled in the frenzy. Francis was being overwhelmed already when the infected jumped through the tunnel all at once and onto his body trying multiple times to knock him down while flinging arms hit him on their way down. An infected climbing over others jumped onto Francis reaching out, grasping and then holding onto his shoulders and pushed him into the water.

"Francis!" Zoey screamed and then she ran to his position while Bill ran towards Francis' position also while he was paired Louis who focused on the tunnel located to the front of the room. Zoey shoved a few infected off where she suspected to where Francis' body would be when he dragged into the water when she noticed he wasn't there. Zoey was splashing through the water looking to see if they still had him pulled down. She was searching for what seemed like minutes when she heard deafening shots whizzing past her head in close quarters, she turned around and saw Francis soaking wet holding onto his shotgun. She had forgotten that there were infected around her while she searched, if he hadn't defended her, she would have drowned, or would've been mauled before being drowned.

"Did I scare you?" He teased, Zoey frowned and turned away in embarrassment and denied her relief, "Aw don't be mad." He smirked grabbing onto her arm and pulling her up through the tunnel to the right of the room.

Louis and Bill tromped their way through the water and climbed into the tunnel while they looked back to see if anymore infected came through the tunnels, and thankfully no special infected came slithering by. Zoey watched their backs while Francis took off his vest and shirt. She turned to look at Francis when she suddenly turned away with a flushed face. Louis looked at Zoeys reaction and began to laugh,

"Shut up Louis, you'll alarm the horde." She hissed slapping his shoulder,

"Oh grow up Zoey!" Bill grabbed her shoulder and turned her around forcibly so she could watch Francis.

"Ah!" She tried to turn around,

"Seriously Zoey?" Louis couldn't contain his laughter.

No one really didn't want to point out the obvious or begin to tease her, since it was Zoey and all; her temper never really flares out and they learned that over time.

"We can't even make one noise without alerting a few of those sons of bitches." Bill threw away his wasted cigarette that fell apart from being soaked. Francis twisted his shirt so he could drip the rest of the water off it and the same process to his vest. His arms were covered with tattoos and there were some on his chest and around his belly button. He hadn't looked up to see Zoey, instead her eyes wondered away but then were magnetized on his torso, her eyes followed back to his body like a ping pong match. She tried to take in his image a little without it seeming like she was a creep. The man was built like a brick house, though he wasn't the bodybuilder type, he built real muscles that he often used, though she did admire his abs and his nice hip bones, overall the man was pretty beefy. She looked away once Francis looked up to see that she was staring at him. He smirked and laughed,

"Well Bill, they're bound to be relentless, we're just getting started." Francis stretched his muscle shirt and pulled it over his torso. He then slipped on his vest and continued down the tunnel.

"I'm just glad that were not still standing in that water...its beginning to smell like pipeline sewers." Louis covered his nose, feeling a light draft come down the tunnel. The draft meant that there was an opening somewhere further down the drains to the surface. The floating bodies looked like buoys, they littered the surface of the water covering every inch, and their blood mixing with the water was putrid. Zoey lifted up her pants since the weight of them became noticeable since they were wet above the knees, in fact every movement in wet clothing was annoying and encumber some, and she couldn't imagine how Francis was feeling.

They moved through the tunnels, the sound of their steps scraping against metal echoed until they reached a cylindrical room made of excess pipes...and more water. The thought of being slow because she was wet made her paranoid and on the verge of freaking out again, especially if she found out a Boomer could catch up to her because of it.

"This is just a perfect place for all of them to attack us." Louis whispered harshly. Zoey looked down at the distance they had to jump, and once they did, they can't climb up. She took one step forward and jumped down making a loud noise that echoed around the entire room. She looked around and waiting for anything unexpected but nothing showed. She looked up at the rest of the group and they observed her. She hated places like these, she used to play Doom, and the game was pretty scary mostly because she did the campaign slowly. She figured if she sped things up she could bypass a few things...but still be scared at times. She walked around the rails as she observed the area and focused on the water below them to see if she could spot any infected hiding. She leaned over the rails to get a better look, and she flinched slightly when Bill jumped down on the metal creating the same loud echo, she couldn't imagine the sound Francis would make. She looked at the latter and slung her assault rifle over her shoulder. A shuffling noise entered the room; she looked up at all the possible places the infected could enter. Bill heard the peculiar noise and stopped to listen. The shuffling became louder and it was hard to pinpoint from which direction it came from.

Then Zoey, for some odd reason immediately stopped and she quickly turned to Francis who was still standing in the tunnel searching for the noise. The shuffling was loud, but the noise became clear to where it was coming from, and pretty soon Bill figured it was coming from the tunnel he just exited. The familiar scream they heard before that emanated from the Hunter was echoed down the tunnel and Francis turned around with an expression of horror on his face. The Hunter screamed and pounced with claws stretched and legs bent towards Francis. Louis cursed and jumped off the tunnel edge and out of the way to avoid Francis' body that was flung from the tunnel to the rails with the Hunter grasping onto the sides of his shoulders, one of its knees hit Louis behind his head and stunned him. Francis reached and gripped the rails before the Hunter could successfully pull him down to the ground that could have made him suffer a concussion once he hit the cold concrete. Francis yelled in pain when the flesh on his shoulders was torn by four perfect scratches lining the Hunters grip. The hunter was gone and Louis stumbled before he stood up and ran to Francis. Bill hadn't moved and raised his rifle, knowing that the Hunter could pounce again. Zoey kept quiet, well, after she knew he was okay, but before she was holding her breath. She knew the Hunter was still around and it was an unusually dark place.

"Don't worry, I'll help you up." Louis grabbed the back of his shoulders and pulled him up, and Francis pulled his legs over the rails and took a few moments to breath, he whipped his head around after planting his feet.

"Where'd it go?" Bill looked around. Zoey looked around, still holding onto the latter, she continued to listen and the shuffling continued. She hated the fact they were waiting way too long, because it would just get scarier if she doddled, and in the game she would die just because of it. She continued down the latter while the guys all looked at her shooting daggers at her from their eyes, trying to mentally get it across that she was moving too fast. She looked down to see if she was getting closer when she saw a moving shadow waiting for her at the bottom. She froze for a few moments, and then she looked up and very slowly, made her way up the latter with a pallid poker face. The Hunter at the bottom screamed and nobody moved a muscle, Zoey stopped in her tracks, she whipped her head back down and saw the Hunter jump into the latter chute. Zoey cursed loudly and sloppily climbed up the latter as fast as she could.

"Help me up Bill!" Zoey screamed and Bill reached for her hands and she grabbed onto one of his hands. The Hunter screamed again and jumped for her, gripping onto her ankles. She grunted as Bill struggled to pull her away from the Hunter. She began to kick her legs violently and managed to kick the Hunter in the face making it stumble. Bill pulled her up by putting his arms around her waist while she had enough room to pull out her assault rifle. She shot at the hunter partially blind as the shots ricocheted off the sides of the chute while hitting the Hunter. Once she stopped, the Hunter hit the metal bars on the way down before landing in a heap that thudded with a crunch. Zoey held her breath, and she noticed that Francis and Louis were behind Bill looking down the latter.

They all stopped and looked around for the horde, still holding onto their breath and nothing came thankfully. Zoey rubbed her face for a few moments before continuing to prepare for another surprising attack. She also remembered, the more she tried to bypass the more it became difficult to beat the game in the end...and she died...lots of times..._come to think of it, I never really beat it_. She said grimly to herself while she reached the lat few latter's. She jumped off and landed nimbly on the concrete, disrupting some dirt that billowed from under her converse.

"Hey, there's an ammo stack here." She smiled slightly, pointing her flashlight in the respected direction. "I guess we're not the first ones to come through here." She took out the partially empty clip, but then she laid her eyes on an automatic shotgun. If it was possible, she would have foamed at the mouth before falling to the ground enthralled in a seizure/orgasm. She picked up the automatic shotgun and stroked it perversely, since she turned away to do it in private. She quickly grabbed some shells and filled it. She turned to see that the rest were having at the ammo stack and a diverse sum of guns that included the hunting rifle.

"How come it's so empty?" Louis looked around the room, his voice echoed.

"Are you disappointed?" Bill stocked his bag and slung it over his shoulder again.

"No." Louis thought to himself, "Honestly, if I had some sort of protective armour, then I'd be disappointed."

"Well you're just as squishy as those two." Francis walked in front of Zoey and pointed his flashlight to see ahead of their path.

"What about you?" Louis raised a brow,

"I'm indestructible." Francis spoke loudly.

"Bull!" Bill spat out,

"I call that!" Zoey raised her hand in utter agreement.

Francis responded by chuckling, he walked around the centre of the room and down the stairs into the water. "Holy shit this is cold!" Zoey closely followed behind him as did Bill and Louis.

"Sweet mother Mary and Joseph my ass is already frozen!" Zoey flinched while she swished her way through the water.

"Shamoo's titty it's fucking cold." Bill sneezed; his comment was slightly border line,

"Cheese and crackers!" Louis declared, his was obvious the most obscene response to cold water, because it didn't relate...at all.

They reached the cement and Zoey quickly tip toed out of the water. It stung her legs because the water was a little too cold. Francis followed behind her kicking his legs while running out of the water. Louis ran out of the water and Bill lagged behind terribly. Zoey couldn't watch and she went back into the water so she could grab onto Bill and help him out. Her legs were still stinging as they produced too much heat, and she was pretty sure everyone felt the effects. They found more tunnels that led around, but oddly there were still no hordes and no infected, it was probably the ice cold Antarctic water that stopped most of them. It was peaceful, and that maybe their luck hadn't expired. Zoey turned the corner and heard another familiar noise, they could recognize that lard ass' grunting noises from miles away.

"Boomer." Zoey whispered, she pointed around the tunnels and did not see its protruding belly.

"Has anyone ever noticed they're good at hiding?" Francis whispered,

"Not really." Louis looked at Francis awkwardly.

"Everyone shut up." Bill whispered harshly,

"I just said one thing!" Francis whispered harshly back.

"Oh for cryin' out loud Francis!" Bill stopped crouching and walked past everyone to continue down the tunnel, "Well someone must fuck up our cover, so why not me this time." Bill looked outside the tunnel. "No way."

"What?" Francis ran behind him. Zoey sighed and stood up; it was as if the sound of the Boomer was suddenly forgotten. Louis crept behind them and Zoey beside them. The tunnels lead to a large room, with more water. There were floodgates ahead, and a latter below them. The sound of the Boomer brought them all back to the situation at hand and they continued to search. Bill climbed down the latter and looked around while everyone else took a turn at going down.

"I'm not gonna lie...but they're pretty good hiders." Bill didn't bother to point his flashlight at the poles that were a few centimetres wide. Francis grabbed his shoulder to warn him and Bill pointed his flashlight at a thin pole under the switch. "There's nothing there..." Bill whispered. Then, almost impossible, denying all laws of physics and all laws of being obese, like the Beverly Hills Ninja, a Boomer walked out from behind a five centimetre width pole. "Holy shit my eyes are finally giving out on me!"

"No you crazy old fool! Then my eyes would be just as bad!" Zoey slapped Bills back roughly "Hit it already!" Zoey walked in front of Francis and Louis who were rubbing their eyes. Bill was a little stunned as Zoey lifted her shotgun and hit the Boomer on the side of the face causing it to slowly stumble, and on those round little feet could not find balance as it fell into the water and exploded. The water lifted for a moment as a bubble formed underwater and dispersed puffing out a toxic fume.

"Jesus!" Bill looked at the water,

"Let's just go." Francis pushed Bill onwards. Zoey saw the switch and climbed up the latter. She ran towards it, but stopped, instead she observed the room. Louis came from behind her and slammed the switch.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zoey became wide-eyed, on the verge of pummelling Louis,

"Pushing it." Louis looked at her, the sound of the horn and the light flicking about the room caused them to look at each for a moment and wait for the horde.

"We weren't ready, Zoey you're such a jackass!" Francis groaned,

"What!?" Zoey turned to Francis, "It was Louis!" She pointed at him standing in the corner,

"You scandalous wench!" Louis walked up to her acting offended on his part. She turned to him and gritted her teeth, and with tiny fists flailing she tried to hit him.

"Stop it, the apocalypse is among us, and all you guys want to do it have a hissy fight?" Francis put his hands on his waist, "Come on!"

The horde came faster than they thought, and in an onslaught. They rushed out of the tunnels like rats and piled out of each orifice climbing onto the platform. They were relentless, even after death. Zoey walked into the corner and shot at the infected, but frighteningly Bill was pulled away from the team by a smoker. Francis was forced to push his way out and into the horde to set him loose while Louis followed closely behind him leaving her to defend herself.

"...Fuck!" Zoey cursed aloud. The infected who didn't notice her...noticed her. "This is ass guys!" She stood up and shot in all directions knocking a few at a time, and it was a little more overbearing when she had to reload. She officially became separated from the team when she saw them already making their way across the floodgate. Her jaw dropped and she momentarily let down her shotgun. "Oh you can all burn in hell!"

"Don't worry babe I'm coming back!" Francis yelled, but he didn't stop to turn around at all until they disappeared into the other tunnel exiting the large room.

"Oh you son of a bitch!" Zoey cried out while screaming at the top of her lungs. She had no other choice but to defend her spot and hopefully make it out alive. She hit everything that grabbed at her and continued to reload when she was running dangerously low. The numbers were lower and finally made a break for it after there was only a dozen in her way. In another horrifying instant, she felt and heard thumping steps that came from the tunnel they entered from. "No way." She breathed and she saw a Tank burst through in a rage with steroidy arms with the veins size of a quarter roll. "The AI director is an ass!" She made another break for it as the Tank jumped onto the platform. "Wanna tango big guy?" She taunted, the Tank growled and jumped onto the ground as she made her way up another latter. She looked to her right and saw the Tank already in her position. It flung its mutated arm at her and missed, knocking down the latter after she had made it to the second platform again. The infected were still on her trail and she grabbed the woman who gripped her neck, and flipped her over on top of the Tank. The Tank swapped the woman away like she was a fly, and without a second wasted Zoey made a mad dash down the floodgate bridge and up the stairs.

The Tank was breathing hard, hulking closely behind her and she hadn't stumbled yet until she saw a make-shift latter leading up to a warehouse. The hallway she ran down became smaller and the Tank had trouble squeezing through it, which in turn bought her some time to climb up the latter. She jumped and stumbled, and then doom had hovered around her and her fingers slipped just as the Tank squeezed through the tunnel like a lubricated object (Author in turn, gives the reader the option of imaging an object being lubricated and squeezed out of something). Just as she slipped though, Francis made a leap and reached for her hand, grabbing at her and squeezing it hard. The Tank rampaged past the small spaces and threw another mutated muscly arm at her and it missed. Francis pulled her up and threw her over towards the window.

"Run!" He lifted her up and pushed her out the window. Her heart was beating fast and her breathing became harder. She had noticed the Tank was a little too close to Francis and on the verge of slapping him. She took out her shotgun and noticed that is was almost empty, and decided she would chuck the shotgun behind her. She had missed by a landslide and it landed on Francis' head causing him to bite his tongue and become wobbly as he ran away, though with some luck the shotgun went off and it aimed for the Tanks tiny face, but unluckily as it shot off, the kickback hit Francis on the back of his head making him even more wobbly and always on the constant verge of looking like he was about to fall but instead used that leverage to run like an autistic child trying to be an airplane. The Tank hadn't stopped though, it ended up slapping Francis and his body flew clear of the parking lot as it flew through the warehouse window breaking the tempered glass. But he somehow still managed to get to his feet and continued to run like a retard.

"What's wrong with Francis?" Bill asked aloud. Francis made his way to the safe house first as he dove head first through the door holding his arms tightly to side as to rocket into the safehouse. He endured a lot of damage and a lot of head trauma, so his aim was a little off and he dove right for the safe house alright, but Bill hadn't opened the door yet, letting him slam his head into the metal door finally giving him a concussion. Bill opened the door as him and Louis looked at each other in a confused manner. Zoey made her way up the steps and past Francis' body and she immediately shut the door behind her. "What the hell are you doing!?"

"Just mutilate his white ass and leave!" Zoey locked the door behind her. The Tank noticed Francis' unconscious body on the floor and Bill and Louis panicked as they shot the Tank through the bars of the door. Just in time, the Tank finally gave up and Bill ended up killing the beast. It fell over and rolled out of the way. The tank had also beat up the door as well, and as Bill tried to open it, the door fell off its hinges and landed on Francis.

"O-Oh...Shit!" Bill lifted the door off his body.

"Is he alright?" Louis leaned over,

"What kind of a dumbass question is that!?" Bill grabbed his body and dragged him in. "Zoey, what the hell was going through your mind?"

"You guys left me!" She turned away.

"No, he turned back after he had to take my crippled ass back!" Bill tried to close the door, so he slanted it against the train. "Let's just hope they're not that smart to see it's not really on its hinges."

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I totally crossed out that part where I was going to make them use the Tank as a door...but nah, I made my point. Review? Or not :\

Oh, yeah, Francis gets a real good beating because I demand it so.


	4. The Trainyard Safehouse Dilemma

Alright, I know, it took me long enough to submit something, so I did...just not all of it. I submitted this one part by itself because it dampens Chapter 4 for reasons you will read onwards. Plus chapter 4 was taking too long. This is what happened after Francis was being thrown around and abused and when he finally wakes up. **Warning: Contains a lot of really harsh language, a lot of retardness and stupidity and a few terms some people won't understand. **

I also remember somebody reviewing me about my language use for "African Native." I was really scared of being racist, so it took a lot of courage for me to step out of my shell for a moment to bring some character to life. **  
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:.:.:Chapter 3.2:.:.:

.:The Trainyard Safehouse Dilemma:.

It had been a few hours when Louis perked up as it caught Bill and Zoey's attention,

"I'm pretty sure we all have the same question on our minds." Louis' attempted to ask an obvious question without saying Zoey's name. In her own anger, she purposely ignored him.

"Louis! Are you going to help me or not!?" Bill turned to him, trying to pull Francis through the door. Zoey came to his side when and Bill shifted away, purposely rejecting her help, "So you came to finish the job eh?" Bill scoffed, secretly knowing it was effective enough to make her cry. He was being a tyrant, ruling the current situation with guilt, it was who he was.

"Bill! I'll help you, but you have to hold back the insults." Louis came to his side instead as Zoey moved away slowly with a painful look on her face and Louis was accepted gladly by Bill. They pulled Francis through together, holding onto his arms and eventually squeezing him through to his waist. It was easy since they pushed him on his side but his butt and his belt were being difficult. "I didn't know Francis had a fat ass." Bill exhaled, frustrated, and then cursed afterwards. He stood up and put a hand on his hip, his arthritis would catch up to him soon.

"What if we just push the door apart another increment and- Louis was interrupted.

"We can't…it would be too loud. If the zombies keep up their lazy walks around and if Zoey keeps crying they might think a witch is back here." Bill pointed to the part of the door that was dug into the dirt. "You would hear the metal scraping a hundred miles away…or in other terms of measurement. Maybe about two or three zombie hordes away I'd say." Bill looked down at Francis' unconscious face and back at Zoey. Louis was thinking of another alternative while pacing around Bill and Francis. Soon he got frustrated as well,

"Why can't we just slap some lube on him and hope that he goes through." Louis sharply sighed, and then stood up and walked away,

"Hah! You'd like that wouldn't you!" Bill laughed hoarsely and slapped his knee comically. Louis looked away and glanced back to Zoey,

"We could just leave him there and hope no zombies find his legs sticking out."

"That's a better idea actually…it benefits me and not you as much." Bill jeered at Louis, and then Louis looked down and saw a covered corpse by the wall, as he stared at the stained tarp a wild idea had popped into his head,

"I think I have an idea to make Francis nearly invisible." Louis flipped the tarp covering the body. It was fresh enough and he looked down at the blood pool around it. "Let's hope there's no disease or some infection in the blood." He used a cloth that was set aside and smeared it over the blood; it was thick on the cloth and didn't soak through easily.

"What are you doing?" Bill watched him,

"I'm going to smear the blood on him to make him look like he's already dead." Louis pointed with the cloth towards Francis' body on the floor.

"Well…alright." Bill couldn't come up with any better idea and found the idea amusing because it was conventional and humorous beyond sanity.

"Let's see." Louis bent down towards Francis' body, but he encountered a problem quickly. "I can't reach that far…" He breathed out, for some odd reason Bill jumped to his feet and watched from above him. Louis tried to stick his arm out further, but he wasn't a contortionist to get to a proper place to smear the blood. So when he tried to reach further his arm had snagged on a piece of metal sticking out of the door frame. His arm pulled back in pain but the cloth fell from his hand and landed on Francis. It was the same function when you drop a toast with jam on one side, some people get to have the toast land on its back but then there are the unlucky ones who have the jam land on the floor. "O-Oh…U-u-uh." Louis became wide-eyed at where he dropped the cloth. Then Bill covered his mouth and laughed, his body shaking. The cloth had inexplicably landed on his ass with the blood pouring between his legs.

"Way to go Louis." Bill craned over to look at Louis who looked back at him with flushed cheeks. "You know the terrible thing is…zombies can't tell from the blood if the person is dead or not." Bill laughed in his ear, "Just Francis lying there inanimate is enough to signal that he might already be dead." He walked away from Louis who was still trying to think of a way to lift the cloth off.

"Why couldn't you have told me before I smeared it over him?" Louis looked behind to glare at Bill who smirked. Bill leaned against the wall, but he too glanced away and saw Zoey sitting in the corner. She was drying her tears as she held her knees together, Bill thought back to the situation of what had happened and he eventually felt a linger of guilt. Louis grabbed at the cloth and pushed it from Francis' body. He took a few seconds to look at the stain and smiled slightly holding back his laugh. When he turned around he saw Bill's eyes fixated on Zoey who was by herself, he saw Bill waver for a moment and turned back. Bill continued down the short corridor of the train cart and noisily sat beside her. She looked at him with red teary eyes and a red nose.

"What happened back there was entirely…my fault." Bill hadn't looked at her in the eyes, denying the slight sting of guilt. "I had made a plan in my mind to drop a survivor to take a weight off the load…Regardless of Louis or Francis' decision." Bill looked at the tip of his boot and fixated his view on the tiny rocks and mud dried on top of the rubber. "I had made a plan that I would pretend to be crippled and wounded, so that Louis and Francis could be distracted from you and leave you behind." Bill looked up finally and closed his eyes, "I just needed only a few seconds of their attention and you would be dead…but somehow you managed to pull yourself out of the scrap." Bill sighed and grabbed a cigarette from his pocket. He put the cigarette to his lips when Zoey looked up at him,

"Why?" Zoey was confused and hurt from the mutiny displayed by Bill.

"Because you have a family, you have personal problems that are dragging with you like a ball and iron chain. Your feelings would get in the way of calling for a rescue…and I couldn't let you obscure my plans so that you could find if your family is alive." Bill lit up his cigarette and took a long drag before he said again, "All of our families died already, everyone we ever loved died already. All I have left is the hope of survival…with our without my wife." Zoey looked down at her shoes and thought to her father and younger sister. When they contacted her and the way they responded…she couldn't help feel that her family was still holding on for her.

"Either way Bill…I want to see them. They are still waiting for me." Zoey stood up, sniffing and wiping her nose of her sweater sleeve, "Even if I find them dead…."

"I respect that Zoey." Bill looked at her for a moment, feeling a similarity, "I'll go with you."

"Okay." Zoey sniffed again.

"Me too." Louis looked up at her. Zoey looked at two men, happiness flooded into her as she made amends with both of them, and she wondered if Bill felt the same. She found a reason beyond her meaningless task, she knew they was a chance they were dead but she wanted to mourn before getting to the evacuation with her team. At that moment, they all had to realize, and learn fast that they had to build a trust or sink like stones. Zoey looked at Louis and then at Bill, and she reached her arms out to embrace Bill who was beginning to stand up.

"Okay…Alright Junior." Bill patted her back; he hadn't felt kindred in a long time. Louis watched them, admired when they heard shuffling noises coming from outside. The moment dropped like a thermometer from a few degrees of happiness to a minus of the upmost nerve-wracking moments. They all reached for a weapon and watched the door closely. Zoey tried to hear when she saw Francis moving his legs.

"It's Francis!" Zoey ran to his side while Louis and Bill watched the door.

"Are you sure?" Louis held up his pistol shakily.

"Look!" Zoey turned to them when she felt something grasp her hand.

"Zoey?" Francis looked up at her with drowsy eyes.

"Yeah…it's me." Zoey smiled, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Oh for god's sake woman, keep it together." Bill whispered from behind her,

"Yeah…" She immediately stood up and wiped her eyes and then her nose. Francis looked around and saw that he was caught in between the door.

"So…I didn't dream it." Francis breathed,

"What?" Louis looked over, trying to be concerned.

"My fucking head flew through the fucking door! That's What!" Francis tried to get up and pull himself out. Louis and Zoey rushed to his side and pulled him out, Francis maneuvered his belt out of the way. "I could have sworn you sons of bitches closed the fucking door! Was it all of you?! If I had a weapon I'd fuck you all up!" Francis shook his fist around, "And if my head wasn't so busted up I would be walking straight and I'd give you a left hook, I'd give someone a good view of my knuckles! God damn!" Francis put his hand on his head, "Son of bitch! You bastards! Oh god that hurt like a bitch!" Francis stopped and put his hand on his heart compassionately, "I'm hurt though, betrayals not cool…" Francis stopped again, and then continued by gesturing his hands, "Oh, and yeah, one of those big fuckers caught up to me and hit me from behind…did you guys know that!? I'm pretty sure it was obvious when it caught up to me, AFTER…After, I hit my head of the FUCKING DOOR!" Francis stopped again, but it was for a breath. Then he pointed at Zoey with his finger erect in the air and the atmosphere suddenly became heavy. "YOOOUUUUH…threw a shotgun at me…I mean…what the fuc- Francis stopped with his hands in the air while his attention was caught to his pants.

Then the three amigos standing in front of Francis suddenly went dead quiet and Bill wasn't puffing like a chimney since the ash begun to consume his cigarette. They looked at each other but Louis seemed to have been sweating more than they were. They all held onto their breath, and remembered the places where the weapons were and the med kits were.

"W-what…WHAT…is _THIS!?"_ Francis was about to point at the stain with his two hands when Louis threw the bloody cloth from the counter onto the bleeding spot on his groin. The cloth stuck and Francis couldn't move a face muscle, not even his body because he couldn't register what had happened. Bill and Zoey looked at Louis simultaneously with incredulous expressions.

"Why did you do THA- Bill was interrupted as his cigarette fell out of his mouth,

"Why is there…." Francis gasped followed by a high pitched noise of panic that sounded more like a feminine gasp. "Why am I bleeding from my- His eyes grew wider when the stain dripped further down his pants. He picked off the cloth and threw it back at Louis. Louis screamed and slapped it away. "WHAT…IS…THIS…_BLACK MAN!?_" Francis became beet red furious with both fists raisied. Louis couldn't move from his spot, fear controlled his motor skills, but not his foot because he was trying to kick away the bloody cloth. He looked around himself and saw the stains were wider right across his butt. "Oh my sweet baby Jesus…I got RAPED by a fucking tank." Francis' previous expression was shattered by the shock and horror of seen on his contorted face.

"T-That's not how it happened!" Louis tried to explain, Zoey and Bill tried to hide themselves behind him.

"My ass doesn't hurt…Oh shit, he rode me like a fucking stallion!" Francis ignored Louis, "He raped me so much my ass has gotten used to it!" Francis turned to Louis and grabbed his collar. "I'm not a gay man you hear me!" Francis was bewildered,

"Of course you're not! But! It never happened!" Louis tried to explain again.

"I'm not in fucking denial! I'm accepting; I was fucking raped by a tank! You don't have to act, I fucking knew it! I saw it! I FEeeeLT it!" Francis became delirious as he let the second last word out of his mouth shakily. "Everytime I wanna fart I'm going being blowing assy air! Not the kind that claps! Noooo!" Francis shoved Louis back and grabbed his head, "When I'm prairie doggin' I'm gonna be evacuating my bowels!" Francis thought aloud and fell limp to the floor in an emotional wreck. Bill and Zoey picked up Louis off the floor.

"No! It never happened! None of us saw it…I-it could be the concussion." Zoey tried to sooth him with her tender voice, she got closer and he wriggled his body away while covering his face.

"This is just sad." Bill thought, he grabbed his cigarette off the floor and stuck it back into his mouth. He walked towards Francis and stepped on his back slightly, "You could always just take off your pants and check to see if you really _are_ bleeding out of your ass." Zoey touched Francis' shoulder and he calmed down, he looked behind him and at Louis and Zoey. He looked down at himself and then began to unzip his pants in a hurry.

"Oh god! Francis tell me when you're going to drop your pants at least!" Zoey turned away. After a few moments of rustling and struggling Francis stood up like an excited child throwing his arms in the air. Zoey turned around as did Bill and Louis, his belt may have been still unbuckled but the look on his face was priceless.

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Its much better that this part has a chapter by itself, because its really dark in its purest concept.


	5. The church

It's been a really Loooooooong time since I submitted anything. And for that, I apologize. It kind of just slipped my mind, but I knew my Dawn story already had a rough draft for this chapter, so I finished it. In this chapter, there are a lot of conflicting things happen that are really noticeable about the group. There are some changes, some progression, and of course zombies :3 As for my other stories, they will eventually get around now that I'm fondly reminded of them :D

Left 4 Dead and it's characters are all copyright of Valve.

I don't think a warning is necessary seeing as this is a survival game, so killing is expected, but it's still a warning none the less.

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:.:.:Chapter 4:.:.:

.:The Church:.

Bill opened the red metal door cautiously. The group had taken their time to have a breather before trekking down the treacherous pathway. It was only dangerous because the possible places the zombies could immerge or climb over was infinite. The train yard was vast with abandoned train cars and broken tracks that led nowhere. They were large, elongated scraps of steel set aside and the scene stretched outwards with a few copses along the tall perimeter fences.

Zoey threw a med kit around her body to put her two arms around the loops like a backpack. She buckled the two bottom straps together and she turned around to help Louis with his. She turned to look at Francis who was standing by the door in an awkward stance, clearly remembering the incident from before. She passed Louis a pistol and she grabbed herself one too, after she had grabbed a sub-machine gun.

She looked at the combat shotgun, haunted by it and passed it to Louis instead. Bill turned to look at them and then he stepped out. He surveyed the area and began to take small steps forward, trying to listen for abnormal noises but continued. The wind howled past them and it must have been sundown, but the sky was still too dark to tell. Francis stepped out second and aimed his shotgun to the unguarded sides of Bill. Then Zoey and Louis came out and noisily stepped out once Bill continued his casual walk.

Zoey noticed the tower with a spotlight through the window. She wondered what might have been up there when she saw that Francis and Bill were walking side by side and Louis was walking beside, the other two were an unusual distance away. She turned to him and he turned to her.

"What do you think is up there?" Zoey pointed to the tower.

"I don't know." Louis was curious and they saw Bill jogging to the abandoned building ahead. The lights hung over the wooden landing, lining a pathway that would help them cross the train car ahead that blocked the road. When they came closer to the building, Zoey turned around to hear rustling. She continued to walk and turned to look into the darkness behind the train cars. She reached her hand up delicately to pull on Louis' shirt. He looked down at her and then looked into the darkness.

The rustling became louder, Zoey turned around to see that Francis was just as suspicious. Louis grabbed at her wrist and she looked at him when she noticed that Louis was watching Francis' reaction. Bill and Francis began to shoot furiously into the darkness ahead of them and Zoey whipped her head around to look at the darkness. The zombies had been waiting, and they came in a line of fury and bloodthirsty growls and screams. Their legs overlapping one another and arms swinging, their pallid expressions were revealed when Zoey shined her flashlight at them. "Well, we're going to see what's up there!" Louis yelled, grabbing her arm. He knew they would be outnumbered soon as they made their way to the steel stairs. Francis yelled to them but she couldn't hear him.

The horde attacked from all four directions, cornering them while Francis and Bill shot into the over-encumbering group. She could hear Bill yelling obscenities, she could hear them all yelling but was unable to register their words and focused on getting away. She could feel Louis close behind her as he shot behind himself. She grabbed the steel railing and swung her body around violently, subconsciously grabbing at Louis' arm and pulling him around up the steps. She fumbled when she got up to the first platform.

The stairs were fragile as one step went out from Louis. She turned around and grabbed at Louis' hand and he jumped up and the zombies trampled each other while trying to get him. When she reached to the other platform she grabbed onto the railing and it fell off. She lurched over and gripped onto the floor and a loose rod that used to support the railing.

"Louis!" She screamed.

The infected swung their hands at her ankles and she tried to move her legs to shove them away. The infected continued to go up the stairs and Louis shot them all, reloading and punting them away down the stairs. They hit the ground below them in a cracking splendor of broken bones and pooling blood. She grunted as she looked beyond the hordes of zombies and saw that Francis and Bill were being cornered by a few infected.

She tried to reach her arm out and slapped the metal, falling back and swinging her body while still trying to hold onto the rod. She swung her body around again, slamming her chest painfully, but getting one of her legs hooked over. She slid onto the platform with her body and rolled away from the edge. She felt for her pistol, realizing she dropped her sub-machine gun two levels under her. She aimed it past Louis' head, putting one arm on his shoulder and forcing him away so he could get a chance to reload.

Francis looked at the pair fighting on the platform and stepped out of the room while Bill followed behind him. He continued to shoot at the dispersed, incoming infected. He saw that the infected were getting smarter, they knew Louis and Zoey were in peril and they started to run towards the stairs. There were piling bodies that fell from the platform, he looked away and saw a red tank of gas in the office. He saw two propane tanks sitting in the bathroom and signaled Bill to grab them. Francis grabbed for the red tank and threw it as far as he could. The tank landed under the first flight of stairs, nestled under the first step.

The zombies ran up the stairs in a disorderly fashion, blocking his view of the tank under the step. He grabbed out his pistol and began to shoot at it, hitting a few of the legs of the infected, and managed to get it to light up.

The red tank became lit and within a few seconds the gas had sputtered out of the bullet hole, caught the flame and spilled over the ground. The infected began to burn as a domino effect. Bill threw the propane tank into the fire once another horde of infected came running up the stairs. The flames danced around the propane tank and it exploded.

It sent the infected flying into pieces and some morbidly injured and some lost their mobility. There was a cache of special infected on the way, not realizing it, a smoker had snuck from behind a train car mass and shot out his tongue towards Bill. It had missed and wrapped its tongue around the other propane tank. Francis threw himself back as he heard a Hunter on the premises. Bill threw himself in the opposite direction as it tried to pounce them.

Francis saw the propane tank being dragged away and he aimed his pistol at the contrasting object. Once it reached the smoker he began to shoot and the tank exploded. The smoker let out a death cry of defeat as a few pieces of ripped off tongue flew into their direction. The hunter pounced high enough onto the roof of the building and readied itself for another attack. It jumped towards Bill but was immediately sent flying into a different direction when Francis hit it in the face fast enough, with the end of his shotgun breaking its neck. The force was mostly from the power of the Hunters jump. Bill turned to Francis with a worried look on his face.

"What it is old man?" Francis began to run towards the building. He ran past Bill who yelled back at him,

"I think there's a witch in there!" Bill cupped his hand around his mouth.

"We'll just wait and see." Francis ran up the stairs. The steps were completely overrun with the infected as Francis punted his way past the infected. Bill stepped away, realizing the crescendo was over, for now and was worried. He took aim at the top room, keeping in mind that Zoey and Louis were making their way to it soon. He could hear sobs since the rest were too preoccupied, but he was still cocksure that the witch might have been up there all along.

The fire had calmed and Zoey kept trying to make it up the stairs. She looked down at the steps and saw Francis making his way up. He was frustrated and he began to mow them down with his shotgun. Louis wasn't fast enough to reload his shotgun when he was violently hit by an infected. He was stunned and Zoey came back down a few steps and threw her foot into the infected' face. She knocked it back and it fell off the rail. She grabbed onto Louis again and they progressed further.

They were out of breath but Zoey was determined to reach the top. They ran around the last bend and ran to the room, the infected followed closely and Zoey turned around with her reloaded pistol and aimed it at the remaining group of infected. Louis turned around and saw that there was one last horde of infected coming from the darkness.

"Get ready!" Louis yelled down the stairs, realizing Francis was still at the bottom. Louis quickly reloaded and ran back down the stairs. Zoey didn't notice that he moved away from her, she reached for the door knob, turned it and swung open the door. She stopped, hearing the sounds of bullets being shot in the background; she focused her attention on the crying girl on the floor. The cries were haunting as it pierced her mind. She became confused when she heard Bill again. This time she turned to listen, and he yelled again,

"Witch!"

She heard his voice clearly, and the conversation with Bill about the special infected replayed in her mind. It was no longer the ugly witch with the broomstick and pointy hat. The crying girl wasn't mediocre when it looked up at her. With a surprising gasp and a horrific white face, Zoey moved her body away slightly, too afraid to move. She could hear Bill again, he kept screaming for her to run and never stop.

The witch stood up slowly, bared her teeth as her hands came closer to her chest. The witch's nails were long, sharp and stained with blood. The crying stopped and the white face turned to an expression of ferocity and anger as she let out a scream.

Zoey turned away and began to run. Bill kept screaming for her to run, but the witch caught up to her and tore a hand down her lower back. Zoey let out a scream of pain and she realized the severity of the consequences of being caught in the path of destruction of a witch. She pumped her legs as she jumped down the steps; she turned to run down another flight. She saw Louis as he looked at her strangely. The witch was raving behind her, screaming and holding out her hands. She was quick, and so was Zoey.

Zoey ran past Louis, not realizing there was potential that he could be hurt, she still couldn't stop herself from running. She pushed herself around the infected and eventually grabbed onto the grated floor above, sliding her fingers through and jumping onto the shoulders of the infected.

They swung their arms at her but were too slow. The witch ran past Louis who was shocked, the witch pushed him harshly aside and over the rail. Francis saw Louis about to fall and he ran under him. He broke his fall by a few mph (speed of the fall) as Louis landed on top of him. Francis had the breath knocked out of him, but he relieved himself of being breathless and his mind wandered to Zoey. He sat up while Louis rolled over holding onto his shoulder.

The witch hit him hard enough to bruise him, so Louis groaned with pain, looking up and noticing there were shots being fired across of them. He saw Bill was shooting like a mad man, running closer and hooking his arm under his armpit. Bill lifted him onto his feet, taking a brief moment to look at him,

"Well, don't just sit there! Kill that bitch!" Bill pointed with his rifle while he shot it.

Francis looked up to the stairs and saw Zoey in a state he'd never really seen before. She was in 'apeshit' mode, except she was always thinking one step ahead and she wasn't screaming. She moved around the infected skillfully and above them, trying to escape the white petite figure that was chasing her. He saw Louis and Bill shooting at the small girl and he took aim and began to fire once the figure was far away from Zoey.

Zoey was becoming fatigued, the flight of stairs looked short, but it became cumbersome to climb back down because every inch was covered with infected. It's easier to climb a mountain than get down because it was an excessive mental strain to be alive when you reach the bottom too. She brought out her pistol and began to shoot, once she had reached a good distance from the ground and where she was elevated, she didn't take the chance to go down every step. The witch behind her had swiped at the infected who were in her way easily.

The witch was a bull where Zoey would be the one with the red target on her back and the infected were just an obstacle to shoveled under, over and aside. Zoey saw she was on the first platform and immediately ran towards the railing, grabbed onto it and jumped off. She rolled and continued to run past the men.

The witch furiously threw herself over the rail and continued for some time on her knees and hands, and then back into a sprint. She was hell bent on killing Zoey from disturbing her in a rare, peaceful place. Bill emptied another clip into her, but it still hadn't slow her down. Soon enough all three of them were running after the witch while Zoey ran up the wooden stairs of the building and down the runway. She ran down the plank of wood and onto the train car. The witch hadn't changed speeds, but geared to an incredible speed once she got up the stairs, leaving Bill inaccurately trying to shoot her, Louis confused and Francis worried.

Francis took another route and ran under the runway. Shooting at her from below, he missed. Bill finally got up the stairs, she was running in a linear direction and he emptied another clip into her back. Francis threw his shotgun around his body and slung it onto his back.

"Jump!" Francis yelled at Zoey, she looked at him, creating a wild goose chase; she would hopefully jump back down, and go around in circles until the witch was dead. She cautiously looked at him and she leaped down from the train car. Francis had his arms out and he caught her. He immediately let her down as he slid the shotgun around himself and aimed it at the witch.

Zoey ran some distance away so she could reach either Bill or Louis. Francis purposely put himself in the direction of the witch's path. He loaded his shotgun but she was too fast. The witch would run past him, so he shoved the barrel of his shotgun under her ribs, pushing himself back to avoid her swinging hands and shot her into the torso.

The shrapnel blew out of the other side accompanied by curdled blood and bits of chipped bones from her collapsed spine and ribs. The witch's wretched screaming had stopped at last as her undead corpse fell onto him.

"Francis!" Zoey ran after him,

He threw the body aside, being light and all. The small little girl had a dark side that shouldn't be disturbed. He heaved himself off the ground, standing straight and dusting off his vest. Zoey came to him with an admired and worried expression all in one. He couldn't help but smile slightly, to be enamored and provide some assurance. He put his hand on her shoulder as she shakily put her pistol to her side.

"Let's go, we're done here..." He continued as he led Zoey away from the body, "For now." They walked back to Louis and Bill who continued up the stairs.

"We only got a few steps away from the safehouse." Zoey looked up at Francis,

"Well…we spent a lot of time in there." Francis smirked, "Maybe the infected were waiting the entire time." He thought it was funny that there could have been some thinking involved. "I'm sure we won't see many on the rest of the way hopefully."

"I'd like to think that too." Zoey walked up the stairs and she noticed Bill and Louis were in the office ahead.

"There's an ammo stash in there, you need to fill that…" Francis studied her for a moment, "What happened to your other gun."

"I dropped it." Zoey looked away embarrassed,

"You seemed better with a shotgun." Francis walked around the corner into the room.

"I can't bear to hold another one." Zoey looked down as Bill and Louis filled their guns as much as they possibly could.

"All is forgiven." Francis put an arm around her and hugged her tightly. "Just don't do it to me next time."

"I promise." Zoey lifted her hand to her heart and the guilt had left her. She picked up the combat shotgun and sighed romantically as she reloaded it. "When I was on the train car I noticed some lights coming from down the road over there."

"So you're saying there's a safehouse?" Louis turned to her,

"No, I'm just saying we might have to fight another horde." Zoey cocked back the shotgun.

"Well I'm more than ready." Francis smirked, "That was just a practice round."

"Get your shit together Louis!" Bill looked over to him; he seemed to be intensely in thought.

"What's wrong?" Zoey looked to him; he turned to look at the three of them,

"You know, of all the possible things you could have made up, why was it rape?" Louis looked at Francis. "First thing that came to mind?" He was finishing reloading his weapon. Francis looked back at him and then turned awkwardly away.

"Because, I just did okay, why don't you just drop it?" Francis walked out of the office, the three of them followed behind. Louis chuckled behind him,

"It could have been prostate cancer for all you know, or just a scratch, or hemorrhoids." Louis grinned; they walked to the wooden bridge.

"Hemorrhoids aren't a joke Louis." Bill turned to him, Zoey smiled a bit.

"You had them Bill?" Louis perked up,

"No you dumbass!" Bill turned behind him, the three of them crossed the bridge and began to jump off the turned over truck. Louis continued,

"My uncle had hemorrhoids once, it was so painful that he had this contractor build him a special toilet seat," Louis continued, "I mean, it felt like I was sitting on bubble wrap." Zoey laughed,

"Did you pop the bubbles?" Zoey asked out of genuine curiosity,

"I tried, but I swear, that was high class stuff." Louis remembered fondly,

"I wouldn't mind sitting on a bubble wrap toilet seat." Francis added,

"The only thing I thought was disturbing and really cool was that it was self cleaning!" Louis said incredulously with flailing arms, "It would secrete antiseptic on the seat, and it had some nozzle that would shoot jet water into your ass!" They walked side by side down the road.

"Oh grow up Louis!" Bill took out another cigarette.

"It had a dryer- Louis was cut off by Francis,

"A toilet that can clean and dry your ass!?" Francis looked at him,

"Did it look like a chair with arm rests?" Zoey asked,

"Yeah." Louis looked at her,

"You mean like one of those cool Asian toilets?" Zoey perked up,

"Japanese actually, I think." Louis smiled.

"I think your uncle liked hemorrhoids just so he could sit on a toilet like that all day." Zoey complimented,

"Really?" Francis asked in a low, unbelieving tone, "Would you sit on one all day?"

"Well, I can sleep all day, why can't I take a shit in one all day long too?" She looked up at him; he slightly shook his head in amusement.

"I thought girls were modest." Francis' eyebrows rose,

"We are…in public bathrooms." She looked around, Louis spotted a bottle of pain pills on the ground.

"Peels." Louis grabbed a bottle and put it on his belt.

"How come you say it funny?" Bill gave him an amused expression. They all continued to walk down the road. They weren't the first ones to walk down the road.

"I hate big open spaces." Francis commented, "I especially hate big, dark, scary, wide open spaces."

"The trees don't make it better?" Louis asked,

"No, they just make it easy for me to bump into." Francis shrugged,

"What's that?" Zoey pointed to the house that was barely lit. Beyond the house was a direct pathway into the suburbs. There were brighter lights beyond the yard. "Looks like we have a clearing." Zoey smiled, but her stomach turned and flopped when she thought of her family.

"Looks awful." Louis commented, as they made their way up the yard, they heard howling in the wind that sounded like a cry. Zoey jumped as the wind blew harshly past her ears. She fumbled into Francis' back as Bill continued to look forward.

"It sounds like a witch." Zoey nearly panicked her heart beating against her chest.

"Oh calm down, it's just the broken gate." Francis pointed with the tip of his gun to the general direction of the gate,

"What are you deaf?" Bill looked at them, "I hear it too."

"That comes with age old man, Zoey is traumatized, and that's all." Francis smirked,

"That's not a big deal to you?" Zoey looked up at him.

"Shut up you two; let's go inside before any other scary shit happens." Bill continued as they all nodded and cautiously continued to the house.

-snap- "Oh shit!" For a moment everything was fine until Louis began kicking his feet into the house. Zoey was the first to perk up the snapping of the twig like a deer, and galloped into the house after Louis. Pretty soon Bill and Francis felt the notion to move their feet and ran for the doorway. They caught shoulders as they tried to squeeze themselves through the door. Bill exhausted himself and shoved Francis over onto the hardwood floor. Bill immediately turned around and aimed his SMG into the darkness, realizing there weren't any footsteps, he turned to Louis.

"There was nothing there you pussycat!" Bill turned to him,

"Pussycat?" Francis looked up,

"I didn't mean to do that, I just freaked out…" Louis put his hands together and rubbed them together in a nervous manner.

"Over a goddamn twig!?" Bill breathed out, "You scared us half to death! At least we all remembered to not scream when we're scared." He rubbed his head.

"What if I pooped myself instead?" Francis got up from the floor,

"Now's not the time Francis." Bill glared at him,

"That's not the wind." Zoey spoke gently,

"Why can't we even have some humor on our blatant lives?" Francis held his gun towards Bill,'

"That's not the wind."

" Because you being a smartass is not needed here." Bill looked at him, "Try to take something serious for once, in your life."

"Oh you want to talk about my life now? Who the hell do you think you are to come up on me old man?" Francis leaned over and pushed the barrel on his chest,

"That's not the wind."

"Look where we are dumbass!" Bill stretched out his arms, leaning into the barrel.

"You're not making any sense; maybe my rifle can sort things out." Francis gritted and felt his finger on the trigger.

"All of this because of a joke!?" Louis joined in, trying to push the barrel off of Bill's chest. Francis flung the barrel against his hand. Louis put his hand back again onto the barrel and Francis turned to him and smacked him in the face with it. Bill lunged forward to take the rifle out of Francis' grasp while Louis tried to compose himself. Francis fought back by jabbing Bill in the stomach, and then Louis yelled and jumped onto Francis' back. Bill fell to the ground and grunted in pain.

Zoey pointed her shotgun in the air and shot the weak ceiling. It collapsed beside her as drywall clumps and insulation fell out in heaps. There was a slight creaking as the men had looked in her direction. Zoey stopped and listened, then she heard shuffling from the roof and a long object fell out from the roof.

She stopped to bend down and examine it. It was moving, it was pretty white and Zoey could feel her heart pounding again, soon her vision was becoming blurry and she could feel her heartbeat in her ears. Her muscles stiffened and her mouth began gaping.

"Jesus Zoey, what's wrong?" Francis huffed,

"You look like that girl guy from Sleepaway Camp." Louis turned over.

Bill got up and relaxed against a wall, he then gasped for air and limped his way towards her. He bent over to pick up the long object but he stopped. He burst out laughing and poked Zoeys head. "You are an idiot!" He snickered as he picked up the long object, "Its just really old insulation…fiber glass." He threw it on her as she let out a sharp sigh and fell onto her back.

"I'm glad you're laughing at me." Zoey sarcastically said.

"Look guys, it's a witch." Bill continued, "No, it's a fiber glass witch, it's murderous and makes you stomach itch, run for your lives!" He sarcastically threw his hands in the air and continued to laugh. Francis thought it was funny and joined in for the laugh. He walked over to Zoey and held out a hand.

"You're going absolutely crazy Zoey." He smiled down at her,

"I think so too." She looked up and grabbed his hand.

"At least it wasn't a witch." Louis held onto his gun tightly.

There was a moment of silence when the same wail blew past the door. Bill looked at the door, realizing that there wasn't any wind. Louis looked up at the hole in the ceiling, Bill searched the room, and the same cry hadn't come from outside this time.

"I think we better get going." Bill urged,

"Good idea." Francis picked up his rifle and continued out the door.

The rest of them quickly made an exit out of the door when they heard heavy footsteps from behind the fence.

"Or not." Bill whispered hoarsely, he turned to three at the doorway and urged them to go back inside. He waved his hand violently as the footsteps stopped. Bill turned his head to hear, and then he motioned his hand for the group to hide.

He slowly made his way, without making the least amount of noise, crushing every leaf and twig made a considerable impact on his hearing, nerve-wracking. Then, without warning the footsteps became multitudes into a stampede. Bill ran back inside and closed the door.

Francis was in the living room, squatting by the ammo stack and Zoey heard the infected run around the house.

"They're circling us!" Louis yelled from the bedroom,

"What?!" Francis yelled back,

"I said- Louis was grappled by a smokers tongue, it whipped itself around his body and thrashed towards the window. The tongue impaled itself on the broken glass still attached to the frame, nearly jabbing at Louis' throat. He began to yell for help when he caught sight of the ravenous infected coming after him.

"Louis!" Zoey screamed out as she ran for the bedroom. Francis steadied himself and picked up a shotgun, he got to the door as the infected ran for the entrance. He began to shoot but some of the infected broke through the windows and began to leap in. He pulled back in pain when one of the infected scratched at his shoulder.

He aimed his shotgun steadily as he was slowly being backed into a corner. Zoey was already in the bedroom; she had released Louis from the tongue and shot the smoker from the short distance, the thick smog had only distracted the infected for a half a second. Zoey pulled up Louis as she shot into the clearing smog, she took his arm,

"Louis! Go help Francis!" She yelled, she bent down to take a conveniently placed red tank and threw it into the direction of the window. She shot at it and it combusted in fiery flames that set a few other infected on fire. The flames began to consume the infected outside as it spread, the fire was also claiming the house. She ran for the door and immediately shut it behind herself, she ran towards the back where Bill should have been.

Louis reached for an SMG, barely escaping the pallid clutches of the infected. Francis continued to punt at the over-bearing crowd. Louis took aim and wildly shot in all directions of the infected. Their numbers were nothing against the SMG for a short while. There were other infected within the vicinity, and it became abundantly clear that their odd of survival were slim.

Zoey came upon the sight of Bill kneeling in the corner. He kept his guard up, aiming at all three possible entryways. So far the infected were beginning to change their assault plans and aimed for Francis and Louis.

"I'm glad to see your all right Bill!" Zoey smiled, she shot at the doorway and blasted an infected two meters away.

"Where are they going?" He looked up at her,

"What?" Zoey shot at the window behind him,

"Their numbers are shrinking, either I'm_ that_ good or they're going after the others." Bill turned to peek over the window; Zoey caught sight of a small group of infected, avoiding the back door and heading towards the side of the house.

Instinctively, Zoey ran towards the living and was shocked to see how much the infected accumulated within the minute she had been gone. The infected were climbing over each other to get to Francis and Louis.

"Holy shit!" Bill took aim again and began to shoot into the crowd. Infected were sneaking from the back door and Zoey turned to shoot at them. She looked around, not thinking of what to do next; she moved her feet and ran out the back door. Bill hadn't turned around to see her go and continued to shave off as many infected as he possibly could.

Zoey was defenseless, hopefully for a reason. She shot at the infected and saw their main entry point. They were moving in through the living room windows and some of them joined in from the forest. With whatever shells she had left in her shotgun, she shot at the encumbering group and managed to kill off the rest of the infected coming from the forest. Luckily, during this fight there weren't any special infected nearby.

She turned to the door and shot into the backs of the infected, the fell over into piles and into the stampede. Zoey steadied herself and charged into the living room. From what was remaining, she shot into the small cluster and their attention had still remained on Francis and Louis. Then Zoey ducked down and screamed when bullets were whizzing past her head. They were still alive.

She turned to see Bill using the end of a rifle to violently kill an infected lying on the ground. Bill stopped, and was slowly regaining his breath. He looked up at her and then reached for a cigarette.

Francis plopped by the wall behind him and Louis remain standing. He let his arm go limp with his SMG at his side. It was quiet once again but with repercussions. Zoey got up from the floor and walked towards Louis. His face was scratched and there were deep cuts in his arms. There was an ominous cut in his leg.

"You shouldn't worry about me, look after Francis." Louis reached to his side for the pain pills he had. Zoey looked down at Francis, clearly he was half dead. His breathing was shallow and he was covered in blood. There was a scratch above his nose and three marks down his neck. She tried to make out the rest of the wounds but couldn't tell because of the blood. There were many divots on his arms, but the bite on his wrist looked deep.

"There was this one feisty zombie in the group, a small lady who took a big bite out of me." He showed Zoey and with a snicker, "She reminded me of you." He smiled at her, it hadn't made her better but she smirked anyways. She reached for her medical kit, reminding herself that this was the second time she had done this for him.

"Why didn't you call for help?" She watched for his answer. She felt for some rolls of gauze and pads.

"I was too busy fighting them off." Francis looked down at her, "Too busy fighting for Louis, he had to go back for ammo a lot and I guess he took refuge behind my back."

Louis heard from a distance but hadn't bothered to defend his case.

"Shit…" Francis breathed out, "I'm fine really, except for a few minor scratches." Zoey paid no attention to what he said but wrapped the gauze around his arms. She looked at the bite, cleaned it out and wrapped gauze around it too. The small scratch above his nose required a small band-aid that she gently squeezed onto. She sat back, admiring her work; Francis was feeling better so he tried to stand up. Zoey quickly reached for his arm and held him up. He reached for her head and rubbed it, "Those were some nice moves out there." He commented,

"What do you mean?" She looked up at him,

"When you came around the house…that was pretty slick, but a little stupid." He looked down at her, he moved slightly away from her to make sure he could still balance himself out.

"I was trying to protect you guys." She tried to explain, conscious of what he said.

"Don't worry mama bear." He teased,

"What does that mean?" She looked at him, not knowing whether it was a compliment or insult,

"My mom, who is dead now, told me that a mother bear is a fierce protector, she would rather die before she lets a predator kill her cubs." He smirked,

"Wow." Zoey smiled widely, "That's the nicest comment I've even been told." She let go of Francis gently so that he could stand.

"Okay, I can walk." He moved stiffly, but he regained his strength.

While they were conversing, Bill and Louis were scouting the back, studying the war path. Zoey and Francis made it around the corner, Bill turned to them.

"That's no evacuation center; it's some kind of church with big flashy spotlights. Let's hope those zombies we killed were the town's population." Bill made his way through the back yard; Zoey didn't want to say that most of the infected were coming from the forest.

Bill spotted an EMS vehicle on the way and decided to rummage through it in case there was something useful, he picked up pain pills.

The group had made their way to the church, walking past the graves, it was eerily quiet. Bill was still convinced that the infected weren't going to come out for a while. Louis looked at the sand bags, he was guessing it was some sort of base but it became deserted. Bill walked to the door, but he turned around so that the rest of them could catch up. Louis walked around the church; he saw the piano and pressed his finger on some of the keys. The notes rung through the church but he was sure there were no infected around. Bill turned to Louis; an uneasy feeling welled in his gut. Francis stepped over the sand bags as Zoey stood beside Bill at the door.

"It's not strange that I feel safe by this door?" Zoey asked Bill,

"Well, it's strange if you feel that way _outside_ the door." Bill looked at her, "Why do we have to ring some fucking door bell?" He tried to peek through the door,

"Is someone out there!?" A muffled frightened voice spoke through the door, "I've got a bell in here!"

"Open the god damn door!" Bill yelled,

"You're not coming in here!" Then nervous voice shot back, "No one get's in!"

"You're not just going to let us in?" Zoey wanted to reason,

"I'm clearing this up, I'm ringing this bell, and they'll come, and then they'll finish the job!" The voice became panicky as it tapered into a slow curl of madness. Zoey and Bill looked at each other with concerned expressions. They turned to see Louis and Francis readying their weapons. "Ding Dong! DING DONG!" The voice became loud, Bill stood away from the door, and the church bells began ringing, "Dinners ready! COME AND GET IT!!!"

"I don't believe this!" Bill huffed in anger, Zoey fumed,

"You bastard, I swear I'll- Bill grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the door.

The crescendo was only a contingent of infected that came rampant through the windows. Louis and Francis killed them off as Zoey turned to the door; she heard odd noises coming from behind the door. She reached for the handle, it was unlocked, and then she opened the door.

"Well, that was disappointing." Francis stood up from kneeling in the corner.

"Severely." Louis added, Bill turned to the door, a little disappointed that his gut feeling was wrong.

Zoey saw nothing, but she was violently grabbed from behind the door. There was a smoker in the room; it wrapped its tongue around her body and forcefully pulled her in. The tall infected dug its deep claws into her chest, dragging up her collar bone. She screamed for help as the door was slowly shutting.

The men ran for the door, Bill came in first, kicking in the door as Louis ran after. Francis came from behind as Louis and aimed first, shooting the smoker through the head. Then a plume of smoke burst from behind Zoey as she collapsed on the floor. Bill stood back, covering his mouth. Francis and Louis were in a coughing fit,

"Zoey?" Francis called out; Louis was on the ground, feeling for her body. His hand felt her shoe and he crawled over to feel her leg. The smoke didn't take long to clear, Zoey coughed, feeling for her chest. There was a raw pain she felt in her neck, a sting. Bill closed the door behind them; Louis crawled over her body, studying the wounds on her body. He wrapped his arms around her torso and lifted her off the floor. Francis came from behind and helped her stand on her feet.

She coughed again, but it was pain.

"Ugh." She breathed, "That crazy guy turned into a smoker." She tried thinking straight, but the smoke caught her off guard. It was like having a teaspoon of pepper shoved up her nose and down her throat.

"Are you alright?" Francis asked,

"Yeah…" She looked around.

Bill took one look at her and then scanned the room. "Must've been bit."

"He deserved it." Zoey, "And that shot to the head, that too." She gained her stance and stood away from Louis and Francis, "I'm fine guys, really." She looked down at the wound on her chest, it was deep, but it wasn't enough to stop her. "Just a good patching will do."

The group took a moment of silence to gather their thoughts.

"This is a safe house; there must be something we can use." Louis saw the ladder "Must be up there." He turned to climb up the ladder, Francis followed behind.

"There has to be some med kits." Zoey looked up; Bill nudged her in the shoulder and reached for his.

"Use mine." He passed Zoey the med kit and reached for a cigarette, he threw the empty carton away and savored the last one. He lit it up as she opened the zipper.

"Thanks Bill." She glanced at him and then reached for gauze. She tried to find a way to put it on but she was awkwardly maneuvering around herself.

"Here, let me help." He kept the cigarette in his mouth, "Take off your jacket." He took out a roll and a large pad. He looked in further for a pair of scissors. Zoey put her jacket to the side, and then plucked the cigarette out of Bills mouth.

"What are you doing?" He looked up at her; he found the small pair of scissors,

"Taking a drag." She watched him; he shrugged and cut a rectangle from the pad, making sure it was the size of the wound. He pressed down on her chest after cleaning it out, it stuck to the wound and he grabbed the gauze. Zoey passed him the cigarette and he took it back, he began to unroll the gauze and layered it around her neck and under her shoulder. He unraveled it under the straps of her clothes as he went along. He ran out of gauze and tucked the rest back in.

"Is it too tight?" He asked, Zoey laughed and responded,

"Yeah, thanks for asking me _after_." She grabbed her jacket from the floor and zipped it back on.

"You'll live." He slapped her back. He climbed up the ladder as she followed.

Francis and Louis were looked out the window; Francis saw her and looked at the bandage then back at her.

"We're at Riverside finally…" He watched for her expression.

She looked down, her family was here, that feeling in her stomach and the anxiety came back. It became clearer, that the survival of her family was unknown, but she was beginning to fear that they were already dead; the reality of it shook her.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed it, so far. The teamwork is a little shaky, there is not much communication but a lot of solo work. The conversations are bland and awkward for a reason...it's like when you meet a stranger, forced to be friends, you want to get to know each other so you cover the basis of friendly jokes and funny attitudes...essentially humor to warm up to one another.


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